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By John Helmer, Moscow Oleg Deripaska will fail to swing Norilsk Nickel’s international shareholders into voting for his slate of candidates for the new board of directors at Norilsk, according to a report and proxy vote recommendation by Institutional Shareholder Services/Risk Metrics, a Washington, D.C.-based advisory specialist.

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By John Helmer, Moscow The Jackal’s Wedding is an old Bedouin expression. It means that the beasts will love each other so long as their fallen prey is ample enough to feed the pack. And if there’s no meat, they will attack each other.

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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.

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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 […]

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By John Helmer, Moscow Deep inside the Russian government there is a chamber of secrets where officials have gathered just eight times since April 29, 2008, the day when then-President Vladimir Putin signed the law that created the chamber. The law was entitled “On Procedures for Foreign Investments in Business Entities of Strategic Importance for […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Today the news comes to you from Homer, with Odysseus doing the talking: “We came to the land of the Kyklopes race, arrogant lawless beings who leave their livelihoods to the deathless gods and never use their own hands to sow or plough; yet with no sowing and no ploughing, […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow With just a week to go before Oleg Deripaska asks Norilsk Nickel’s international shareholders to vote in favour of his hostile takeover of the company, the UK High Court has ordered an end to Deripaska’s tactics towards former patron and partner, Michael Cherney (Chernoy); dismissed more of Deripaska’s claims about […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian steelmaking group Evraz announced today that it has cancelled the sale of its Connecticut-based vanadium producer, Strategic Minerals Corporation (Stratcor). Without giving a reason, the announcement says the company “notes the recent publications regarding the possible sale of…Stratcor…Following a comprehensive analysis of Evraz’s strategic options in relation to […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Evraz, the most heavily indebted of Russian steelmakers, is signaling that it is about to sell a US subsidiary producing the valuable steel alloy ingredient, vanadium. But the signs are that there is no intention on the part of the controlling shareholders of Evraz – Roman Abramovich, Eugene Shvidler, and […]

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By John Helmer in Moscow Oleg Deripaska is preparing a series of presentations to institutional investors next week in Boston and New York, chaperoned by one of his largest creditor banks, BNP Paribas. Rarely has so unconvincing a lamb been led to market by so well-known a wolf; or such an odd couple asked to […]