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25 aug. 2008 02:57	Severstal plans to buy US coal miner
Severstal is looking to acquire US coal mining company PBS Coals Corporation, the Russian steel maker said in a press release today. Severstal intends to offer $7.99 per each PBS Coals share, and the value of the deal has been estimated at $1.3bn. The US company will reportedly be bought through the purchase of Penfold Capital Acquisition Corporation, now merging with PBS Coals. The deal, which has yet to be approved by the regulating authorities, will be paid for in cash. If the deal fails, PBS Coals will, in certain circumstances, have to pay a penalty fee of $40.1m to Severstal. Both PBS Coals and Penfold Capital Acquisition have agreed to strike the deal, which is to be completed in mid-October.        RBC-News
25 aug. 2008 02:56	Norilsk Nickel to repurchase shares
Norilsk Nickel has announced the buyback of its 7.947m outstanding shares at RUB 6,167 (approx. USD 254) each, the Russian nickel producer said in a statement. To repurchase shares representing around 4 percent of its share capital, Norilsk Nickel may pay a total of as much as RUB 49.009bn (approx. USD 2.02bn). As stated in the press release, the buyback price is a weighted average share price for the period from February 15 to August 15, 2008, according to MICEX Stock Exchange data.             The company's General Director Vladimir Strzhalkovsky said Norilsk Nickel was buying back outstanding shares in order to support the company's securities, which went down in price considerably over the past several months due largely to "factors that are irrelevant to the company's fundamentals."        RBC-News
25 aug. 2008 02:56	UC RUSAL says opposed to Norilsk Nickel share buyback
United Company RUSAL voted against Interros's proposal to use Norilsk Nickel's cash funds to buy back the company's shares, UC RUSAL said, commenting on a decision of Norilsk Nickel's Board of Directors to repurchase 4 percent of the company's outstanding shares at RUB 6,167 (approx. USD 254) each.             UC RUSAL says it has consistently advocated that funds not used in investment programs should be distributed among all shareholders as dividends, as it considers this to be the most effective method of using unallocated cash funds in the interests of all shareholders, and one that does not infringe on the rights of minority shareholders who have no intention of selling their shares. The aluminum company has also accused Interros of using the buyback instead of initiating a dividend payout as a means of increasing its effective share in Norilsk Nickel.        RBC-News
25 aug. 2008 02:54	Deputy director general of Nornickel - Y.Oleynikov
Jury Olejnikov is appointed the deputy director general - the head of the block of federal and regional programs of OJSC "Norilsk nickel". As they say in the report of Nornickel, before purpose, from 2005 to 2008, Y.Oleynikov worked as the deputy head on regional policy of the Central Electoral Committee of the party "Uniform Russia". In 2007 the company increased release of commodity nickel up 13% to 276.3ths ton. The volume of manufacture of copper made 415.638ths ton, of platinum - 734ths ounces (22.8 ton). The volume of manufacture of palladium exceeded the forecast due to the superscheduled decrease in the volume of work in progress and h made 3.087mln ounces (96 ton). According to IRS "DataCapital", the net profit of Nornikel under RAS in 2007 grew up 40% to 170.2bln rbl. Nornikel takes the sixth place in the "Leading enterprises of Russia" rating under results of 2006, presented by the rating agency AK&M in October, 2007.       AK&M
22 aug. 2008 04:48	MMK posts rise in net profit
he net profit of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) under US GAAP went up 19 percent to $1.03bn in the first half of 2008 compared to $886m in the same period a year earlier, Russia's largest steel company reported today. Sales increased 41 percent to $5.65bn against $4bn in H1 2007. EBITDA reached $1.51bn, which is 25 percent greater than in the same period of the previous year, when it stood at $1.21bn.              MMK's net profit amounted to $760m in the second quarter of 2008, having advanced 47 percent. Sales surged 62 percent to $3.48bn, and EBITDA was $1.05bn (up 50 percent).        RBC-News
22 aug. 2008 04:47	Mechel gets off cheap
A line has been drawn under the case of Russia’s Mechel mining and metals company. Igor Artemyev, Chairman of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, said Mechel would today receive minutes containing all instructions and penalty sanctions. The steel giant will pay 5 percent of its coking coal sales in 2007, or about RUB 790 million (approx. $32.38m). It will also have to reduce coking coal prices by 15 percent from September to the end of the year. Similar cases against the Raspadskaya coal group and Evraz would be completed in two weeks’ time, according to the antimonopoly service. Both companies are facing the same kind of sanctions. Meanwhile, doubts have been raised that metals companies would lower prices as required.              Igor Artemyev, Chairman of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, told reporters what measures would be taken against Russian coking coal producers who abuse their monopoly position on the market. “Mechel will have to pay a fine of 5 percent of its annual sale of coking coal,” he specified. This is about RUB 790 million (approx. $32.38m). Similar sanctions would also be applied to Evraz and Raspadskaya, whose cases are still being investigated, according to Artemyev.              In addition to fines, the antimonopoly body recommends that the three companies lower their coking coal prices by 15 percent from September to December 2008. Mechel officials told RBC Daily that their company had already agreed to the measure, while Raspadskaya and Evraz refused to comment.              Mechel, Raspadskaya and Evraz account for more than 50 percent of Russia’s coking coal market. The case against Mechel was opened on July 15, following applications by Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and Altai-Koks. On July 24, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lambasted Mechel for selling its coking coal abroad more cheaply than at home. Putin’s wrath cost Mechel some 40 percent of its value.              MMK and NLMK, which called the attention of antimonopoly officials to the situation on the coking coal market, can be satisfied: coal producers will have not only to cut prices but also to shift to long-term contracts. Meanwhile, steel makers themselves are not in a hurry to reduce prices. So, MMK is going to raise the price for its hot-rolled and coated products by 2-3 percent in September. Consultations with the antimonopoly service are underway, but no agreement has yet been reached, a source told RBC Daily. Antimonopoly officials expect that a shift to long-term contracts will result in the reduction of metal product prices.              The outcome is not bad for coal companies, experts say. “Mechel, which first came under attack, will suffer the least, losing just 3 percent of its net profit, which is not a problem for it,” reckons Oleg Petropavlovsky, an analyst at BrokerCreditService. “In the end, Mechel will pay a fine three times less than had been expected,” added Maxim Khudalov, of IFC Metropol. Olga Okuneva, an analyst with Deutsche Bank, agrees that the Federal Antimonopoly Service’s pricing sanctions were milder than the market had feared. “They are being imposed for just one quarter. Perhaps, the state will not interfere with pricing matters next year,” she noted. Investors seem to be happy with the outcome, too, with Mechel’s ADRs climbing 3 percent on the NYSE, to $26.7 per ADR.        RBC-News
22 aug. 2008 04:45	Norilsk Gets Political Exec
Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel producer, appointed Yury Oleinikov deputy chief executive. Oleinikov, who oversaw regional policy for the United Russia party, will be in charge of government relations and Norilsk's strategic projects in the regions, Norilsk said in an e-mailed statement Thursday.       Bloomberg
20 aug. 2008 04:18	Coking coal producers ready to make price cut
Mechel and other producers of coking coal are willing to cut prices for their products to be supplied under contracts by 15 percent starting on September 1, 2008, head of the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service Igor Artemyev told journalists today. He believes this to be a positive developments. The official noted that the regulator was planning to recommend to Mechel that it cut its prices by 15 percent.             Artemyev also said that the price for coking coal, produced by Mechel would be decreased by means of sending offers to the company's customers, which have contracts until the end of 2008. The regulator is then poised to urge these companies to cut the price for their products, as they would get coking coal at a lower price, than they had originally planned.        RBC-News
20 aug. 2008 04:17	Anti-monopoly regulator announces Mechel fine
Mechel will be fined 5 percent of the company's turnover, or RUB 790m (approx. USD 32m), head of the Russian Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) Igor Artemyev told journalists. He said the FAS will on Wednesday hand in a protocol of administrative violations outlining the applicable orders and penal sanctions. Meanwhile, Artemyev stressed that, as Mechel cooperated actively during the investigations, the fine will amount to a mere 5 percent of the company's turnover.             The Russian antitrust watchdog earlier found Mechel had violated competition law. The FAS charged the group of companies with creating discriminatory conditions for certain consumers of goods, unjustifiably refusing to sign product supply agreements, as well as setting and maintaining monopoly-high prices of goods.        RBC-News
20 aug. 2008 04:15	Nickel Firms Reduce Output
Russia's Industrial Metallurgical Holding and Xstrata, the world's fourth-largest nickel refiner, said Tuesday that they were cutting output of the raw material after costs surged and metal prices plunged, making operations unprofitable. Industrial Metallurgical on Tuesday reduced output by as much as 40 percent. Nickel rose as much as 4.4 percent in London. Industrial Metallurgical, which produces about 5 percent of Russia's total output of the steelmaking ingredient, shut two of three furnaces at the Reznickel plant and two of five furnaces at the facility, spokesman Pavel Kovalenko said by telephone. "At the current prices even this production volume is not profitable," he said. The cuts are indefinite and the volume will be restored when prices rise, Kovalenko said. Industrial Metallurgical produced 14,144 tons last year. Xstrata said Tuesday that it suspended output at Falcondo in the Dominican Republic.       Bloomberg