By John Helmer, Moscow On February 1, 2010, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released a report on operational results for the previous year, 2009, of the Mechel steel and mining group, Russia’s fifth-ranked steelmaker, which is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The group is owned by Igor Zyuzin (image, […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow The fight by China Inc. to keep control over the flow and price of manganese into Chinese refineries, and out of the hands of pesky international shareholders, has moved into Round-3 after Rounds 1 and 2 turned into bruising knockdowns. OM Holdings (OMH) — a Singapore-based manganese miner and metals refiner […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 25th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow In the finale of the film Casablanca, the Humphrey Bogart character has shot the German officer to enable his ex-lover Ilsa and her husband, a Resistance man on the run, to make good their escape. Captain Renault sees an opportunity to do the right thing for a change, protecting Bogey and […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 24th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Russia, it turns out, has the only government in the world able and willing to do real damage to Rupert Murdoch – and throw him out. While the UK and US governments hold their breaths as squads of policemen poke through the Murdoch media files to find evidence of corrupt entertainments […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 22nd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), owned by Sergei Generalov, announced yesterday it has acquired MetizTrans, a small railcar operator in eastern Siberia. No value for the transaction was disclosed; MetizTrans owns 971 railcars, used mostly for delivering Russian coal to Sea of Japan ports for export. The announced purchase makes a […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 21st, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow EN+, one of Oleg Deripaska’s holding companies, announced today it has swapped $500 million of its debt to VTB, the Russian state bank, for a 4.35% shareholding which the bank will now hold in EN+. Oleg Deripaska, who owns all of EN+ through another of his holding companies, Basic Element, was […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow On Saturday, while the controlling shareholders of Sky News, Rupert Murdoch and his son James, were having to eat their words and apologize for invasion of privacy, bribery of policemen, lying to parliament, and other law-breaking — losing control of Sky News in the process — one of their ace reporters […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Not since the Biblical one – 5 (loaves) x 2 (fish) ÷ 5,000 (mouths) — has the division of assets proved to generate a value multiplier like the one Igor Zyuzin, owner of the Mechel steel and mining group, is trying to pull off. Or proved less convincing to the crowd […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 17th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Sergei Frank (bottom image), chief executive of Sovcomflot, is hanging on to his job despite judgements by the UK High Court last December and this March that he is a liar and worse. Sovcomflot, one of the largest oil tanker companies in the world, has sought leave to appeal against the […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 15th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow In the wake of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s negotiations in Washington this week, US State Department documents have leaked from 2009 and 2010, revealing that American and other international banks were given an ultimatum by Deputy Prime Ministers Igor Shuvalov and Igor Sechin – either roll over the debts Oleg Deripaska […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 14th, 2011
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