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18 jul. 2008 04:51	Alcoa Antitrust Investigation
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service began investigating U.S. aluminum maker Alcoa for possibly abusing its monopoly position on some products. The investigation comes after a complaint on 2007 and 2008 prices from Oboronpromcomplex, a Russian arms maker, the service said in a statement. Alcoa, the world's third-largest aluminum company, acquired two Russian plants four years ago.         Bloomberg
18 jul. 2008 04:49	Evraz Buys Stake in Australian Miner
Evraz Group, a steelmaker partly owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, bought a 16 percent stake in Australian firm Cape Lambert Iron Ore, potentially derailing a bid to sell the company's mine to China. Tony Sage, a director in Cape Lambert, said Thursday by phone that Evraz bought the stake. "At this stage, there has been no discussion of a bid or the price of a bid." Cape Lambert agreed in February to sell its iron-ore project to China Metallurgical Group for 400 million Australian dollars ($391 million). "Evraz is building a global business, and their strategic objective is to" meet all their own iron-ore needs, said UralSib analyst Michael Kavanagh. "One would imagine they'd go for a full takeover. It's a first step into Australia." Cape Lambert, which disclosed the purchase Wednesday without naming the buyer, jumped 8.9 percent to close at a record on the Australian stock exchange.       Evraz Group, a steelmaker partly owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, bought a 16 percent stake in Australian firm Cape Lambert Iron Ore, potentially derailing a bid to sell the company's mine to China."+"";          The Moscow Times
17 jul. 2008 05:14	Mechel sets price range for flotation
Mechel has set the price range for the flotation of its preferred shares at $50.50 to $60.50 per share, the Russian metallurgical group reported today.             As reported earlier, Mechel is planning to place 55m preferred shares in the form of shares and GDRs (one GDR represents one share). The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has permitted the group to place 19,250 preferred shares abroad. Preferred shares are to be listed on MICEX and the RTS, while GDRs will be offered on Frankfurt Stock Exchange.          RBC-News
17 jul. 2008 05:14	MMK, Alta Close Mine Deal
Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel, or MMK, has signed an agreement with Alta to build and supply equipment for an iron-ore mine near Ukraine. Alta, a Czech equipment maker for the metals and power industries, signed a 200 million euro ($318 million) contract with MMK to set up a mine and processing plant at the Prioskolskoye deposit in the Belgorod region, the companies said Tuesday.         Bloomberg
17 jul. 2008 05:13	RusAl Boosts H1 Output
United Company RusAl, the world's top aluminum producer, said Wednesday that it produced 2.20 million tons of primary aluminum in the first half of 2008, 7.8 percent more than a year earlier. It said intermediate product alumina output in the first half was 5.66 million tons, 1.4 percent more than was produced a year ago, RusAl said.          Reunters
17 jul. 2008 05:11	Norilsk Exec to Leave
The deputy CEO of Norilsk Nickel Tav Morgan said Wednesday that he had tendered his resignation days after his boss, Denis Morozov, was sacked. "I'm leaving my post in Norilsk Nickel," Morgan said, calling his time there "a great honor." Morgan joined Norilsk in 2004 from consultancy McKinsey and was responsible for strategy and business development.          Reunters
16 jul. 2008 07:19	Federal Anti-Monopoly Service Opens Investigation of Mechel
The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service on Tuesday said it was bringing a price-fixing complaint against Mechel, the country's biggest coking coal producer. The service said in a statement it had found evidence of monopolistic activity by Mechel affiliates Southern Kuzbass, Yakutugol and Trade House Mechel. Mechel said it knew nothing about the purported violations. The service also said it had evidence that Mechel subsidiaries had without good reason stopped supplies of coal concentrate to Novolipetsk Steel and refused to sign a supply contract with the same firm. No one at Novolipetsk Steel, the country's fourth-largest steelmaker, responded to requests for comment Tuesday. Sources at a company that buys Mechel's coking coal confirmed late Tuesday that there were problems with unexpected suspensions of supplies and price-fixing. The anti-monopoly service was not immediately available for further comment. By law, price-fixing violations are punishable by a fine of 1 percent to 15 percent of a company's profits gained from those sales, said Vladimir Skrynnik, a partner at legal firm Jus Privatum. Mechel spokesman Ilya Zhitomirsky said Tuesday that the firm had not heard of any pricing complaints from its customers. "We haven't received any official documents about the case, and we don't know who filed the complaints," he said by e-mail, adding that the complaints would be judged on their merits. Mechel's first-quarter net profit rose 162 per cent year on year to $500 million as global coking coal prices rose more than 200 percent to reach $300 per ton. Mechel's biggest rivals in coking coal production are Evraz Group's Raspadskaya and Yuzhkuzbassugol units.          The Moscow Times
16 jul. 2008 07:18	Mechel Q1 net profit soars
Mechel's net profit grew 162 percent to $500m in the first quarter of 2008 from $190.7m in the same period a year earlier, the Russian metallurgical group said in a press release. The company's revenue rose 64.1 percent to $2.33bn from $1.42bn in Q1 2007, while EBITDA surged 151 percent to $853m and net operating profit jumped 112 percent to $642m.             Commenting on the results, Mechel's General Director Igor Zyuzin said that the figures were in line with expectations, as they reflected the company's rapid operating and financial growth fueled largely by favorable market conditions.          RBC-News
16 jul. 2008 07:17	MMK sees higher net profit
The net profit of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) under RAS grew 42.74 percent to roughly RUB 37.256bn (approx. USD 1.604bn) in the first half of 2008 compared to the same period of the previous year, the company said in a statement today. Specifically, net profit amounted to nearly RUB 6.178bn (approx. USD 266m) in the first quarter and some RUB 31.079 (approx. USD 1.34bn) in Q2.             As reported earlier, MMK's net profit surged 68.12 percent to nearly RUB 26.101bn (approx. USD 1.12bn) in H1 2007 against the same period of 2006.          RBC-News
16 jul. 2008 07:17	Evraz Group boosts steel output
Evraz Group's quarterly steel production grew 12.6 percent, from 4.164m tonnes in the second quarter of 2007 to 4.69m tonnes in Q2 2008, the Russian steel and mining company said in a press release today. Pig iron production increased 13.8 percent from 3.188m tonnes to 3.628m tonnes, and rolled products output rose 18.2 percent from 3.828m tonnes to 4.524m tonnes.          RBC-News
16 jul. 2008 07:13	Novolipetsk Steel predicts rise in revenue
Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) expects its EBITDA to rise 60 percent in 2008 compared with the previous year, the company indicated in a press release. In addition, revenue will surge 70 percent, the company said. As reported earlier, in 2007 NLMK's net profit sank 19.97 percent under IFRS to RUB 423.931m (approx. USD 18.25m), while revenue climbed 10.39 percent to nearly RUB 154.881bn (approx. USD 6.67bn).          RBC-News
11 jul. 2008 05:21	NLMK to Get $1.6Bln Loan
Novolipetsk Steel will imminently sign a $1.6 billion syndicated loan, which was increased from $1.5 billion after raising an oversubscription, a banking source said Thursday. The five-year amortizing pre-export financing pays a margin of 120 basis points over the London interbank offered rate and is secured by export contracts.          Reunters