By John Helmer, Moscow Alrosa, Russia’s state diamond monopoly, will be ready to hold an initial public offering (IPO) by late 2011 for a 20% stake in the company, Alrosa’s chief executive Fyodor Andreyev said cryptically on the sidelines of a Moscow investor conference on Wednesday. But will international investors be ready to buy shares […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow In December, when we last visited with Mikhail Prokhorov, the only Russian to own an American basketball team, he appeared to be announcing that he prefers his ball to his shovel, and is getting ready to sell Polyus Gold, Russia’s leading goldminer, to “one of the leading gold companies in the […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
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Click to see the map By John Helmer, Moscow At the gentlemen’s club bar, within stone’s throw of BP headquarters in St. James’s, the world famous investor confessed to having a tighter grasp on his gin and tonic than on the benefits he can count from BP’s deal with Rosneft, at least for shareholders of […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow According to what Morgan Stanley has written on page 7 of the Nord Gold prospectus just released , the goldminer owned by Alexei Mordashov – this week trying to sell its shares on the London Stock Exchange — “has entered into a relationship agreement with OAO Severstal and the Selling Shareholder […]

by John Helmer - Monday, January 31st, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow If you stroll past BP’s London headquarters at night, and glance up, to the right of the top storey you will see an office window illuminated in bright blue. This may be the playroom of the former BP chief executive Lord Browne, whose departure from the company was accelerated by the […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, January 27th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Mother Hubbard, one of the most popular old English nursery rhymes, was a hard-luck case. Her kindliness and generosity were ruthlessly exploited by her conniving dog, who played dead for sympathy and then took her for everything she was worth.

by John Helmer - Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Moscow commercial court documents, filed on December 29 and 30, reveal that Franco-Swiss bank BNP Paribas is suing leading Russian grain trader RosInterAgroservis (RIAS) for $20.1 million. The claim, formally lodged against the RIAS subsidiary ZAO Kubankhleboprodukt, as well as its parent OOO RosAgroInterservis, refers to loans made earlier which remain […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow In its 20-year history, the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been notoriously slow to process borrower applications and disburse funds. Insiders say this reflects the problems of adjusting the commercial imperatives of the bank’s €53 billion project financing book, to the political realities and demands of the […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, January 20th, 2011
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  Medvedev wants journalist’s attackers heads torn off   Published: 19 January, 2011, 10:20: http://rt.com/politics/medvedev-wants-heads-torn/ Pavel Kashin (RIA Novosti / Michail Pochuev) “The president promised to tear off the heads of those who attacked me” said Russian journalist Oleg Kashin, who was severely beaten last November.

by John Helmer - Wednesday, January 19th, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow Suppose, just suppose that Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia (image far left), and Igor Sechin, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of resource concessions (image far right), were stakeholders somehow of United Company Rusal, the state aluminium champion. And suppose, just suppose they decided that the hostile takeover strategy of […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
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