By John Helmer, Moscow Anonymous reports about Alisher Usmanov usually appear because he is selling or buying something, and wants to advertise his price. Or else they are there because Usmanov’s rivals and critics are at work. A report from London on Sunday that Usmanov is about to clinch a deal with the Japanese trader […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 26th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Prospectuses are like lap dances. It’s necessary to keep one’s distance so that the baser instincts don’t cloud one’s better judgement. In a recent West Country court ruling, a lap-dancing bar lost an appeal of the revocation of its adult entertainment licence. The club claimed its lap-dancers were lawfully adhering […]

by John Helmer - Friday, October 15th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow One of the lucrative carry trades is about to be chopped. A new report by the UK market regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has warned that it intends to crack down on links between companies preparing share market sales and financial media reporters and columnists, the effect of which, […]

by John Helmer - Monday, September 27th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Endeavour Financial Corporation, a Cayman Island goldmine investment fund, announced on Monday that it has found buried treasure in a surprising place — in Alexei Mordashov’s pocket. The fund, which is listed in Canada and controlled by Frank Giustra, has announced that it had sold out its 43% shareholding in […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The first time Vladimir Putin made the outhouse a lever of state policy was in 1999. Referring to Chechen secessionists and terrorists, he said: “If we can find them in the outhouse, we will whack them in the outhouse.” On Friday, in Chelyabinsk, he did it again. Only this time […]

by John Helmer - Monday, July 26th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Mechel, the coking coal and specialty steel group controlled by Igor Zyuzin, has released its production report for the second quarter ended June 30. By the simple device of comparing the latest output figures for the six months ending June 30, 2010, with those of the first half of 2009, […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Combine (MMK) has just announced that it has abandoned both the Ohio and Oregon steelmill projects in the US, which the company, owned by Victor Rashnikov, has been considering for several years.

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow If this wasn’t Russia, the amount of negative scrutiny the Evraz steel group, owned by Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov, is getting lately from the federal government would signal that the owners are in trouble with the rulers. Also, if this wasn’t Russia, assurances from stock brokerages calling on investors […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 9th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Severstal has announced a transaction which returns the Italian steelmaker Lucchini to Alexei Mordashov, the controlling shareholder of the Severstal group, who originally bought the asset and then re- sold it to his company in 2005-2006.

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 1st, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow As Ronald Reagan used to say, when stumped for words in the presidential debate against then President Jimmy Carter: There you go again! When the Russian owners and managers of High River Gold announce they are launching bankruptcy action in the Russian courts against Prognoz Silver LLC, you ought to […]

by John Helmer - Monday, June 28th, 2010
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