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18 sep. 2008 05:04	Highland Jumps on CEO
Highland Gold Mining, a gold producer part-owned by Roman Abramovich, climbed the most since at least December 2002 in London trading after appointing a new CEO. The miner said it selected Valery Oif from Abramovich's Millhouse holding company as its chief. Its shares jumped 16.75 pence, or 62 percent, to 44 pence as of 4:33 p.m. in London.       Bloomberg
17 sep. 2008 06:54	Higher industrial output reported in Russia
Russia's industrial production grew 5.3 percent in January-August 2008 compared to the same period a year earlier, the Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) said in a statement today. In August 2008, the industrial production index stood at 104.7 percent against August 2007 and 99.1 percent in comparison with July 2008.             The primary sector saw only a small increase in industrial production (up 0.2 percent) in the first eight months of 2008 compared to the same period of 2007, while the figure climbed 7.6 percent in the manufacturing sector. Power, gas, and water production and distribution rose 4.2 percent, whereas oil output (including gas condensate) inched down 0.7 percent to 325m tonnes. Natural gas production edged up 1.2 percent to 434bn cubic meters, and energy output went up 4.1 percent to 680bn kilowatt-hours. The production of passenger cars and trucks jumped 19 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.        RBC-News
17 sep. 2008 06:52	Severstal's $400M Buyback
Severstal said Tuesday that it would buy back $400 million, or about 2.8 percent, of its shares and Global Depositary Receipts in the next six to 10 months. The price is based on Monday's close of the company's London-listed GDRs of $14.04, Severstal said. The shares and the GDRs will then be repurchased and held by a subsidiary.        Reunters
11 sep. 2008 04:32	Metalloinvest wins major copper tender
The Russian metallurgical company Mikhailovsky GOK, which is managed by Metalloinvest, has won a tender for the development of the Udokan copper field, one of the largest copper deposits in the world, the tender commission told RBC today. Meanwhile, the Natural Resources Ministry said that the official results of the tender would be announced on September 17. Metalloinvest is preparing a statement on the matter.             In July, five companies submitted tender bids, including Norilsk Nickel, Onexim Group, the Russkaya Med (Russian Copper) consortium, Basic Element, and Mikhailovsky GOK. However, Onexim Group and Basic Element refused to participate in the tender later.        RBC-News
11 sep. 2008 04:31	Evraz Faces Antitrust Fine
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said Wednesday that Evraz Holding had overcharged customers for coking coal and would be fined. The service opened parallel investigations into Evraz, Mechel and Raspadskaya in July after it noted a steep rise in coking coal prices at the end of last year. A fine has yet to be set, but the service said it would not be more than 2 percent of Evraz's annual revenue.       The Associated Press
11 sep. 2008 04:30	Deripaska Sues Montenegro
BELGRADE -- A unit of billionaire Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element is suing the government of Montenegro for up to 300 million euros ($422.8 million) in damages over the 2005 sale of the country's largest aluminum producer. Central European Aluminum alleges in the lawsuit that the state inaccurately assessed the value of aluminum smelter and mine Kombinat Aluminijuma Podgorica, Economic Development Minister Branimir Gvozdenovic said Wednesday.       Bloomberg
11 sep. 2008 04:30	Severstal's Spending Plans
Severstal said Wednesday that it planned to spend $2.1 billion on coal mining and iron-ore extraction through 2012. Production volumes at its coal mines in Vorkuta are expected to rise to 8.6 million tons in the period, 16 percent more than last year, the company told investors.       Bloomberg
11 sep. 2008 04:29	RusAl Blocks Talks on Spinoff at Norilsk
Norilsk Nickel's board was unable to discuss spinning off OGK-3 or selling stakes in other power generators after United Company RusAl, which owns 25 percent in Norilsk, objected to the plans. The management of Norilsk will continue discussions with shareholders on what to do with the assets, spokeswoman Yelena Kovalyova said Wednesday. Norilsk management proposed spinning off OGK-3 and selling minority stakes in other generators, including TGK-1, TGK- 5. It also planned to keep 28 percent of TGK-14 to power its projects in Siberia. Norilsk proposed an energy spinoff last year that was blocked by former shareholder and previous chief executive Mikhail Prokhorov. RusAl said it supported selling the assets "in a manner that provides all shareholders with a proportionate share of the consideration received." The proposed plan "will not provide suitable liquidity" and will leave Vladimir Potanin's Interros Holding "de facto control" of the new structure, RusAl said.        The Moscow Times
05 sep. 2008 05:35	Severstal H1 Net Profit Jumps 69%
Russia's largest steelmaker announced a 69 percent rise in first-half net profit to $1.9 billion Thursday, a company record. "We grew significantly in all our markets in the first half of the year, driven by both price increases and volume growth," Severstal chief executive Alexei Mordashov said at a news conference. Severstal's first half revenues rose 36.3 percent to $10.5 billion on soaring global and domestic steel prices. "We expect steel demand to keep growing," said Mordashov, who owns 82 percent of a Severstal's shares. He said North American activity was a major factor in the rise in profits. Severstal has spent more than $3 billion on steel and coal assets in the United States this year, to become the fourth-largest U.S. steelmaker, with a production capacity of 12 million tons. Plans are for that figure to reach 13.7 million tons for 2009. Severstal's North American operations posted a sixfold rise in first-half earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization, to $228 million. "We believe in the U.S. economy," Mordashov said, adding that he was interested in further assets in the United States and elsewhere in the world. "The country's economy will grow due to self-sufficiency in resources like iron ore and its large population." Severstal fell 2.6 percent for the day on MICEX, closing at 398 rubles. "Severstal's financial results have exceeded market expectations," Aton brokerage said in an analytical note. "However, the net profits were the result of one-time factors like the re-evaluation of its Sparrows Point, [Maryland steel mill] and the $255 million sale of Kuzbassugol [coal mining company]." Severstal's results fell just short of those from Evraz Group, Russia's biggest steelmaker by market value, which posted an 82 percent jump, to $2 billion, in first-quarter net income. Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works posted a profit of $1 billion, a 19 percent rise year on year, and Novolipetsk Steel boosted its net profit by 44 percent, to $1.53 billion, in the first half.        The Moscow Times
05 sep. 2008 05:33	NLMK to Buy Beta Steel for $400M
Billionaire Vladimir Lisin's Novolipetsk Steel, or NLMK, the second-largest steelmaker by market value in Russia, said Thursday that it had agreed to pay $400 million in cash for U.S. hot-rolled steel producer Beta Steel. Beta, based in Portage, Indiana, will provide unprocessed steel for NLMK's most recent U.S. acquisition, John Maneely Co., a steel pipe manufacturer, which it agreed to buy last month for $3.53 billion. The deal comes amid a drive by Russian steelmakers to acquire North American assets. Russia's biggest steelmaker, Severstal, in the last year has spent more than $1.7 billion on U.S. steel mills, and recently agreed to buy miner PBS Coals for a further $1.3 billion.        Evraz Group and TMK, the country's biggest steel pipe manufacturer, have also made U.S. acquisitions in the last year. "NLMK's strategy is aimed at portfolio diversification and downstream integration in the core markets of the company, including the European Union and the United States, because it strengthens NLMK's position and provides an entry point into an important and high-margin end market," a Novolipetsk spokesman said by telephone Thursday. The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with company policy, said NLMK did not have any immediate plans to acquire other U.S. steel firms. Financed by existing funds and available credit lines, the Beta deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2008. The Beta acquisition "completes the creation of a large, vertically integrated pipe and tube producer in North America comprising the assets of John Maneely Co., Beta Steel and Duferco Farrell," NLMK said in its statement. "On the face of it, the deal appears dilutive because there is low profitability at Beta steel. At the same time, the asset is underutilized," said Michael Kavanagh, senior metals and mining analyst at UralSib. "If NLMK can increase the utilization of the asset and vertically integrate the asset with their other US operations, it does make some strategic sense," he said. In terms of NLMK's overall strategy, the deal helps as the firm has "excess slab production and by buying assets higher up the value chain they reduce their exposure to the commodity slab markets," Kavanagh said. Robert Mantse, senior metals and mining analyst at Alfa Bank, said the acquisition was a "good fit" for NLMK, and noted that Beta was currently operating at half capacity -- an orders gap that NLMK could help to fill through its John Maneely acquisition. In addition to providing hot-rolled steel for John Maneely, Beta -- located in the heart of the so-called Rust Belt in the U.S. Midwest -- will add to the vertically integrated stature of the company by being located near significant suppliers of scrap metal. The Midwest accounts for 60 percent of U.S. hot-rolled coil consumption and 40 percent of scrap generation, NLMK said in its statement. Also, Beta is located on Lake Michigan, one of the Great Lakes, which gives it convenient access to the eastern seaboard, as well as allowing it to be easily supplied by John Maneely's New Jersey-based Atlas Division. Beta sold 547,000 metric tons of steel last year, creating revenue of $324 million with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $21 million. In its statement, NLMK predicted that it would be able to nearly double annual production of hot-rolled coil production to 1.1 million tons, by supplying slabs from NLMK's Russian operations. NLMK, whose first-half net profit rose 44 percent to $1.53 billion year on year, has annual revenues of about $7.7 billion and employs 70,000 people across Russia, Europe and the United States.        The Moscow Times