By John Helmer in Moscow If Alexei Mordashov (right figure), owner of the Severstal steelmaking and mining group, has genuinely decided to let the stock markets lift the share value of High River Gold (ticker HRG:CN), then delaying the public release of the company’s financials and blaming the auditor are a funny way of going […]

by John Helmer - Monday, April 5th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Evraz Group, Russia largest steelmaker, has started a $440 million project to reconstruct the Novokuznetsk Metallurgical Combine (NKMK) mill to produce 25-metre and 100-metre rails for high-speed railway lines being built in Russia. A company announcement says the new mill at Novokuznetsk city, in the Kemerovo region, will be […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 2nd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who also chairs the Russian bailout bank Vnesheconombank (VEB), asked Friday for the US Government to signal its support for at least two oligarch-owned Russian companies in the US. The remark, which has taken State Department officials by surprise, mentioned Norilsk Nickel and steelmaker Severstal, whose […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 22nd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Banking sources in Moscow are reporting that the sale of the Lucchini assets of the Severstal group, controlled by Alexei Mordashov, is not imminent. According to the sources, a precondition of the transaction is a refinancing or renegotiation of the terms of Lucchini’s current debts, estimated to be about €800 […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Chelyabinsk prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation into a lethal explosion this week at a coke battery of the Mechel group in Chelyabinsk. One worker at the battery was killed immediately, and three others are in serious condition in hospital after the blast, which occurred, according to a company […]

by John Helmer - Friday, March 12th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Negotiations are close to a deal announcement for the takeover of the Donetsk Electrometallurgical Works (DEMZ) by Russia’s Mechel group, controlled by Igor Zyuzin (right figure). A report today from George Buzhenitsa, steel analyst at Unicredit Securities, discloses that Mechel is “in the final stages of completing the acquisition”. He […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alexei Mordashov (left figure) has a special thing for the Italians. He’s been rewarded for it in a number of ways. Last July, he was awarded the Order of Merit from the Italian Ambasador to Russia. The order, according to a Severstal release, is the highest award in Italy. It […]

by John Helmer - Monday, January 25th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian business is child’s play, and very forgiving too, if you are big enough to pay for your mistakes. That’s why Alexei Mordashov is smiling in the picture, taken in Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s office on December 4. Mordashov is the owner of the second most heavily indebted steelmaking group […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, December 17th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian government has decided to underwrite the refinancing of pipemaker TMK’s loan portfolio with state repayment guarantees. TMK is controlled by Dmitry Pumpyansky (see right figure). A curt statement, issued Tuesday by Deputy Minister of Industry and Energy, Andrei Dementyev, said “the necessary papers are being processed by the […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
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The Bank of Moscow disclosed today, without comment, that in obtaining court orders in Moscow and Novosibirsk to seize Vadim Varshavsky’s salary and Moscow apartments, it has also obtained legal sanction for “the restriction of V.E.Varshavsky’s departure from the Russian Federation.”

by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
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