|
|
|
 |
|
Pay your attention, please! Any reproduction, reprint or any other way of distributing "Metal Marker News" materials signed with "MetalTorg.Ru" is only possible if supplied with http://www.metal.com.ru hyper-link.
|
| |
| RusAl Makes Cleanup Pitch for Norilsk |
United Company RusAl, the world's largest aluminum producer, offered to pay for a feasibility study to clean up the Russian smelters of Norilsk Nickel, in which it owns a25 percent stake.
"RusAl, as a shareholder, is seriously concerned with the environmental situation relating to production activities at Norilsk's facilities in Russia," Alexander Bulygin, chief executive of RusAl, said in an open letter to the new CEO of Norilsk, Vladimir Strzhalkovsky.
Norilsk, also the name of the town above the Arctic Circle where Soviet convicts dug nickel mines and built smelters, was named last year as one of the world's 10 most-polluted places by the Blacksmith Institute, a New York-based nongovernmental organization. The nickel company said in September that it began working with the institute to tackle the environmental problems.
Norilsk needs a large-scale environmental modernization plan, RusAl said. The aluminum producer is ready to prepare and fund the feasibility study for such a program, the letter said.
"Norilsk Nickel is already realizing its own … environmental program," the company said in an e-mailed statement. "The company will earmark 36 billion rubles [$1.5 billion] on its environmental activities … from 2007 to 2012.
"RusAl has intentionally or unintentionally used the wrong data," the statement added.
The Siberian city of Norilsk, home to 130,000 people, came under scrutiny from Russia's environmental inspectorate last year. The watchdog disputed the legitimacy of the waste-discharge figures a Norilsk unit had submitted.
The aluminum company wants the environmental issue to be openly discussed to avoid Norilsk Nickel's "practice of decision making behind the scenes," the letter said.
RusAl said in June last year that it would spend $1.4 billion to halve pollution from aluminum smelters by the middle of the next decade.
Bloomberg
|
|
| |
| Mechel puts off flotation indefinitely |
Mechel has postponed the placement of its preferred shares for an indefinite period. The placement was expected to start today, however it was cancelled by a decree issued by the mining and metals company's General Director on August 8. Prior to today's delay, Mechel had already postponed the placement from July 23 to August 11, due to unfavorable market conditions. The company was originally planning to float 55m preferred shares with a par value of RUB 10 (approx. USD 0.4) each.
RBC-News
|
|
| |
| Norilsk Sinks 7.9% On Jitters |
Norilsk Nickel shares fell after shareholder United Company RusAl said output would fall this year.
Alexander Bulygin, chief executive RusAl, which owns one-quarter of Norilsk, said during a conference call Friday after the market closed that the nickel company's metals output in Russia may repeat last year's trend, when it fell as much as 11 percent in some metals. Norilsk slid as much as 7.9 percent on the MICEX exchange.
"I see a clear industrial crisis," Bulygin told reporters on the call after a visit to Norilsk's main production facility in the Arctic city of the same name.
RusAl has attacked Norilsk's management as it battles the company's largest shareholder, Vladimir Potanin, for control. Potanin opposes RusAl's plan for a merger and has proposed an alternative three-way combination with iron-ore producer Metalloinvest. Norilsk's board elected Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, Potanin's candidate, as chief executive on Friday. RusAl opposed Strzhalkovsky's appointment, citing his lack of industrial experience.
"We see no reason to own the stock at this stage," UralSib analysts Michael Kavanagh and Dmitry Smolin wrote in a report Monday. UralSib rates Norilsk a "hold."
Norilsk dropped 96.42 rubles, or 2.1 percent, to 4,465.42 rubles ($183) at the close on the MICEX. Earlier it traded at 4,200 rubles. The ruble-denominated MICEX Index of Russian stocks gained 3.9 percent.
The Moscow Times
|
|
| |
| UC RUSAL seeks regulator's intervention |
UC RUSAL believes that Interros will consolidate more than 30 percent of Norilsk Nickel's shares and, therefore, is asking the Russian Federal Financial Markets Service to intervene, the largest Russian aluminum producer indicated in a statement today. Namely, UC RUSAL deems it necessary for the regulator to conduct a detailed analysis of the mining and metallurgical company's structure in order to see if there are any law violations and to protect the rights of the company's minority shareholders.
UC RUSAL thinks that the results of the voting during the general shareholders meeting of Norilsk Nickel make it possible to say that Interros already owns more than a 30-percent stake in the company. However, Interros did not make an obligatory offer to minority shareholders on share buyback, and therefore, violated their rights and the law of Russia.
RBC-News
|
|
| |
| No. 3 Nickel Producer May Cut Output |
Industrial Metallurgical Holding, the country's third-largest nickel producer, may slash output after a 30 percent slump in prices this year.
The company, which makes around 5 percent of the nation's output of the steelmaking ingredient, shut its two plants for maintenance for 10 days at the end of July, spokesman Pavel Kovalenko said Thursday. "We can't exclude cutting production given the current market environment," he said.
Industrial Metallurgical's Ufaleynickel plant produced 14,144 tons of nickel last year, while its Reznickel plant makes an intermediate product processed at Ufaleynickel.
The price of nickel is trading near the production cost of some producers, threatening future operations, Evolution Securities analyst Charles Cooper said.
Nickel for three month delivery gained as much as $1,010 per ton, or 5.7 percent, to $18,810 per ton on the London Metal Exchange, the biggest one-day increase since June 12.
The Moscow Times
|
|
| |
| Norilsk to Tap Party Official |
Norilsk Nickel plans to recruit Yury Oleinikov, deputy head of United Russia's executive committee, a source at the miner said Wednesday.
"The negotiations are ongoing, but it is not quite clear which post Oleinikov will occupy," the source said.
The chief of the Federal Tourism Agency, Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, known as a longtime friend of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's, was recently nominated as a candidate to the Norilsk CEO post. His candidacy will be voted on at the Norilsk board meeting Friday.
The Moscow Times
|
|
| |
| Norilsk Fall Tied to Sale Speculation |
Norilsk Nickel fell the most in at least 19 months in Moscow trading on speculation that billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov's plan to sell a stake would prolong a dispute over the control of the miner.
Norilsk plummeted as much as 12 percent, before paring some of the losses. Prokhorov offered Tuesday to sell 17 percent of Norilsk to Vladimir Potanin in a cash and asset swap worth $10 billion.
Prokhorov's offer "raises more questions than answers," Mikhail Stiskin, an analyst at Troika Dialog, wrote in a note. "As the conflict becomes messier, we do not think that institutional investors will delight at the news."
Norilsk has lost executives, including its CEO, in the past month as Potanin, the largest shareholder, tries to fend off a merger with United Company RusAl. Potanin and Prokhorov are also trying to split their holdings after deciding to end a business partnership.
Norilsk closed down 203 rubles, or 4.1 percent, at 4,741.86 rubles ($202) on the MICEX. Earlier it traded at 4,375 rubles. A close at that price would be the biggest one-day decline since January 2007.
n Polyus Gold said Wednesday that it knew nothing beyond media reports about a planned asset swap between its chairman, Prokhorov, and Potanin. It said the only information it had was from a statement Prokhorov's Onexim Group released Tuesday.
The Moscow Times
|
|
| |
| NLMK reports higher revenue in H1 |
Novolipetsk Steel's (NLMK) revenue under RAS grew 31.1 percent to RUB 97.554bn (approx. USD 4.17bn) in the first half of 2007 compared to the same period of the previous year, the company's press office reported today. Specifically, revenue reached RUB 38.609bn (approx. USD 1.65bn) in the first quarter and RUB 58.945bn (approx. USD 2.52bn) in Q2. Gross profit rose 29 percent to RUB 39.14bn in January-June versus the same period a year earlier, and sales profit jumped 30 percent to RUB 31.441bn (approx. USD 1.34bn).
NLMK attributes the higher revenue in the second quarter to a rise in the company's sales volume and booming metal prices.
RBC-News
|
|
| |
| Norilsk Nickel shares in demand, experts say |
Speculative demand for Norilsk Nickel stocks is high at the moment, experts told RBC TV today. The news on the announced share swap between Norilsk Nickel and Polyus Gold has been long-awaited by market participants and the current rise in the companies' stocks is the first reaction by investors, analysts say. Experts believe that the key players, who expect Norilsk Nickel shares to trade at $330-$350 each, have not yet joined the trading. The stocks are attractive and fundamentally undervalued, analysts note, adding that investors may once again become interested in buying metal company shares, which have been under pressure of late.
As of 3:10 p.m., Norilsk Nickel was up 1.88 percent and Polyus Gold climbed 2.89 percent.
RBC-News
|
|
| |
| NLMK mulls H1 dividend |
The Board of Directors of Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) has recommended that the company's shareholders approve a dividend of RUB 2 (approx. USD 0.085) per common share for the first half of 2008, the company's materials show. The shareholders will consider the dividend issue at an extraordinary general meeting on September 19, and the payout will have to be made by December 18, 2008.
For H1 2007, Novolipetsk Steel paid a dividend of RUB 1.5 (approx. USD 0.064) per share, which means this year the dividend payment could be increased 33 percent.
RBC-News
|
|
|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|>> |
|
|
 |  |  |
|
