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| MMK Sees Ouput Drop
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OGK-3, the power generator controlled by Norilsk Nickel, awarded a 21 billion ruble ($765 million) contract to build two coal-fired units to Tekhnopromexport.
The Moscow-based engineering company will construct the 225-megawatt units at the Cherepetskaya GRES power plant in the Tula region, OGK-3 said Monday.
Bloomberg
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| RusAl Delays Payment
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United Company RusAl agreed to delay a $700 million payment to shareholder Mikhail Prokhorov.
RusAl will transfer the money in two installments, on Dec. 1 and Feb. 1, instead of by an earlier deadline of Nov. 15, RusAl spokeswoman Vera Kurochkina said Monday.
The funds are part of the payment for a 25 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, sold by Prokhorov in April.
Bloomberg
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| Novolipetsk Won't Buy Maneely
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Novolipetsk Steel, Russia's biggest steelmaker by market value, said Sunday that it has terminated an agreement to buy John Maneely Co. of the United States from The Carlyle Group.
"I can confirm the contract has been stopped," said Anton Bazulev, the firm's head of investor and government relations.
Carlyle, the world's second-largest private-equity firm, said Saturday that it will continue to pursue "all legal remedies" against Novolipetsk and that a court case filed on Oct. 15 in New York is still pending. Carlyle's DBO Holdings filed the suit to enforce its rights under an Aug. 12 agreement for a merger between Novolipetsk and John Maneely.
The news comes after Novolipetsk Steel halted deliveries on Friday to GAZ, billionaire Oleg Deripaska's carmaker, because of overdue payments.
Novolipetsk is continuing talks with other consumers whose payments are overdue, Bazulev said Friday.
Deripaska's companies have faced pressure amid the credit-market turmoil. He ceded his stakes in Hochtief and Magna International last month after the shares used as collaterals to finance the acquisitions lost their value. United Company RusAl reduced production and work force at its Ukrainian alumina and aluminum complex on Nov. 3.
n GAZ said Friday that sales climbed 20 percent in the first half.
Revenue rose to 81 billion rubles ($3 billion), GAZ said, without giving a year-earlier figure.
The Moscow Times
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| RusAl Asks For More State Spots |
United Company RusAl said Wednesday that it wanted to see government representatives get four seats on the board of Norilsk Nickel.
RusAl, which holds 25 percent plus two shares of Norilsk, previously said it wanted one state representative on the miner's board and two government delegates in the company's management.
"It is a logical and necessary decision to strengthen the presence of the state in one of the largest Russian companies for the period while the government is providing active support to strategic industries," RusAl chairman Victor Vekselberg said in a statement Wednesday.
Norilsk shareholders will vote Dec. 26 on a new board, which will be extended to 13 members from the current nine.
RusAl also said it wanted the board to include three representatives of RusAl, three independent directors and three representatives of Interros, billionaire Vladimir Potanin's holding company.
RusAl has been critical of Potanin, who holds a stake of about 30 percent in Norilsk and chairs the company's board.
A RusAl spokeswoman said Wednesday that her company would vote for one government representative and suggest that Interros vote for another state official.
She said Norilsk should uses the shares that on its balance sheet to vote for the two other officials.
"RusAl doesn't have any concrete candidacies yet and is planning consultations with the government," the spokeswoman said. "We welcome Interros in the talks."
Norilsk Nickel declined to comment on RusAl's statement. A source in Interros said RusAl had not discussed the issue with his company.
RusAl said last week that it wanted one state representative to occupy a place on the Norilsk board and another two to have places in the company's management to "ensure the interests" of Vneshekonombank, after the lender took a stake in the miner as collateral for a $4.5 billion loan to RusAl.
The Moscow Times
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| VSMPO Sees Orders Falling |
VSMPO-Avisma, the world's biggest titanium producer, said orders may fall as much as 50 percent if business from Boeing and Airbus declines, Interfax reported.
VSMPO will hold talks with Boeing and Airbus this month, CEO Yevgeny Romanov said. It will seek to offset the drop in foreign orders by selling more in Russia, he said.
Bloomberg
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| Deripaska's Plant Downsizes |
A Siberian pulp plant controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska is cutting 60 percent of its staff and maintaining an output freeze because of measures to reduce pollution of Lake Baikal.
The plant suspended cellulose production on Oct. 2, about a month after introducing a closed, internal drainage system that halts discharges into Baikal.
Continental Management is eliminating 1,377 out of 2,300 jobs at the plant in Baikalsk and will extend the output freeze until Feb. 10, it said Tuesday.
Bloomberg
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| MMK Set to Slash Q4 Capex by 40%
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Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works, or MMK, will slash its capital expenditures for the fourth quarter by 40 percent, the company's vice president, Rafkat Takhautdinov, said in an interview published on its corporate newspaper's web site Monday.
The market will stabilize "not earlier than the second quarter of 2009," Takhautdinov said, adding that he believed that the impact of the crisis would be overcome by 2013.
"Only state investment can revive the construction and infrastructure projects," Takhautdinov said. "Even [if the investment is made] the market's quick recovery will be hampered by the stockpiles of metal kept in warehouses."
Several of the country's largest metals companies have proposed that the government introduce customs duties on several metal products to reduce imports and speed up the payment of refunds on the value-added tax charged on exports, Takhautdinov said, without naming the companies. The firms also asked for state guarantees on loans earmarked for Russian-made equipment and for the term of the loans to be extended.
Also on Monday, the MMK stopped deliveries to GAZ Group, the country's second-biggest carmaker, controlled by billionaire Oleg Deripaska, after it delayed payments, Interfax said, citing an unidentified Magnitogorsk official.
Carmakers owe 3 billion rubles ($111 million) to MMK and 8 billion rubles to pipe making companies, the report said.
The Moscow Times
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| Mechel's Romanian Unit Halts Factory |
Mechel Targoviste, the Romanian steel mill owned by steel and coal producer Mechel, halted production for five days until Nov. 10 because of declining demand.
The halt, during which workers will be paid 75 percent of their wages, won't lead to job cuts, the Targoviste, Romania-based plant said Wednesday in a statement.
Mills are slashing output globally as the economic slowdown curbs demand from builders and carmakers. ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, said Wednesday that it would reduce production of flat carbon steel by as much as 35 percent in the United States and 30 percent in Europe. Dacia, the Romanian automobile manufacturing unit of France's Renault, halted production for four days in October.
Mechel's stock was down $1.02, or slightly over 11 percent, to $7.99 in New York at 12 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Moscow Times
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| MMK Suspends Investments |
Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works said it suspended most investment programs because of the financial crisis.
The two priority projects to be launched in 2009, a plate mill and a color coating line, will still be completed, the steelmaker said Thursday.
The steelmaker also started talks with VTB Group about a long-term loan, the spokesman said.
Bloomberg
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| TMK Sees Profits Drop 45%
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TMK, the world's second-largest pipe maker, said first-half profit dropped 45 percent as rising steel costs outpaced increased prices for its products.
Net income fell to $150.9 million, or 17 cents a share, from $276.5 million, or 32 cents, a year earlier, TMK said Thursday. Sales rose 17 percent to $2.37 billion, while the cost of sales jumped 28 percent.
Bloomberg
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