April 18-19, 2009 Ben Fenton of the Financial Times, London, for “Standard’s new owner adopts hands-off approach”: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a8989b3a-2bb0-11de-b806-00144feabdc0.html Letter

by John Helmer - Saturday, April 18th, 2009
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Deripaska’s cashflow chart By John Helmer in Moscow Clark’s Nutcracker is the name of a bird, a member of the crow family, and one of the most famous in the world for a feat of intelligence few human beings, even certified public accountants, can match. Ornithologists have observed that this fellow can remember hundreds of […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 16th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow For the first time since Russian goldminer listings began on the London Stock Exchange more than a decade ago, Russian shareholders have taken a major Russian goldminer to the UK regulator, alleging asset stripping and share value dilution, along with the charge that no justice is possible in the Russian […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow President Dmitry Medvedev will make his first visit to Africa in June, with stops planned in Egypt, Nigeria, and Angola. The disclosure of the Russian President’s first Africa trip was made in an interview with Business Day by Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow If the senior management of Alrosa, the world’s number-2 diamond miner, mounted the review platform above Lenin’s tomb in Red Square, and stood in line for a two-hour military review, the goings-on inside the corporate executive suite wouldn’t be any clearer. But the body language might signal whether the company’s […]

by John Helmer - Monday, April 13th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow A report issued this week warns that Russian steelmills may try to export their way out of the current global economic crisis, exploiting their low-cost power and raw material advantages, and creating a potential glut in global steel supplies for another twelve months or longer. Steel analysts from the Swiss […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 10th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Mechel today confirmed reports that the company is the target of a shareholder lawsuit, alleging that the company and its controlling shareholder, Igor Zyuzin, have failed to disclose material information affecting Mechel’s share price to the market. Before news of the lawsuit filed Wednesday reached the market, Mechel’s share rose […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 9th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow As the curtain goes up this week on Russia’s newest shipbuilding company, the 100% state-owned United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), maritime sources say the curtain may be coming down on St. Petersburg yard, Baltic Plant (“Baltiysky Zavod”). Baltic is owned by the United Industrial Corporation (UIC) of Sergei Pugachev, who also […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Yury Trutnev, the Russian minister in charge of Russia’s oil and mineral licences, is the top-earning member of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s cabinet for another year, according to official income data just released. For 2008, Trutnev has declared earnings of Rb369.94 million, equivalent now to $10.9 million. Presiding at the […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow This is a tale of how the appetite for assets comes full circle, and who gets carved up in the process. Vadim Varshavsky, a deputy of the State Duma and member of the parliamentary Committee on Industry, used to own steel-producing assets as part of a larger coal and steel […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 3rd, 2009
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