By John Helmer, Moscow There is a unique protection in the Ontario Business Corporations Act which may have Alexei Mordashov’s name written all over it. It’s called the oppression remedy. What this does is to allow minority shareholders to go to court to challenge the votes and decisions of majority or control shareholders in a […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 29th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow It seems that this August Suleiman Kerimov will be holidaying with his Mother, as in Motherland. A recent yachting news bulletin from the port of Bergen, Norway, reports that Kerimov’s motor yacht is “docked next to Bryggen, in walking distance to most of the attractions in the center of Bergen. The […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 27th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Once upon a time, Oleg Deripaska was the protégé of Mikhail Chernoy (Michael Cherney). In that relationship, Cherney, the older, taller one, called Deripaska, the younger, shorter one, Zaichik (“hare”). When he grew up, Cherney made him his business partner. In the year 2000, the man who is today Deripaska’s principal […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 27th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Tall stories told by newspapers and their reporters generally don’t start wars. But they do justify them in advance. Afterwards they protect the officials who start them from being prosecuted for war crimes. On August 5, 1964, there was no truth in President Lyndon Johnson’s claim – reported by every major […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 26th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow You don’t have to be Mr Plod to suspect that Noddy isn’t playing fair. More than half the Canadians who hold shares in High River Gold (HRG:CN), and who have resisted Alexei Mordashov’s buyout offers in the past, think he’s low-balling them again. Having driven up the share price to C$1.43, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 24th, 2012
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by John Helmer - Monday, July 23rd, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Iskander Makhmudov (right image) is cultured, charming, gracious, hospitable, polite, discreet – he has more of these qualities than his oligarch peers. But for Oleg Deripaska, his junior in the division of the Russian metals businesses that took place between 1995 and 2000, before the formation of Russian Aluminium (Rusal), here’s […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow A year is a long time in Russian politics, and Vladimir Putin isn’t the same man he was a year ago. Then — on July 15, 2011 — he visited Magnitogorsk, presided at the official commissioning of the new automotive steel production line known as Mill-2000, and spent three hours answering […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Look carefully at who is in the driving seat. The records of RTI Limited (formerly Rusal International Trading), the next to highest control entity in the corporate organization of United Company Rusal, show that it was registered on October 27, 2006, one day after the parent company was registered. At the […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 15th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Norilsk Nickel has declared war on Alexander Popov (image centre), a 57-year old veteran of the oil industry and the new head of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use, Rosnedra. In the circumstances this can mean only one thing — Vladimir Potanin (right), the dominant shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, has decided […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 12th, 2012
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