By John Helmer in Moscow Mechel today confirmed reports that the company is the target of a shareholder lawsuit, alleging that the company and its controlling shareholder, Igor Zyuzin, have failed to disclose material information affecting Mechel’s share price to the market. Before news of the lawsuit filed Wednesday reached the market, Mechel’s share rose […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, April 9th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow South Africa’s Columbus Stainless Pty Ltd, the country’s only producer of stainless steel, has been targeted for anti-dumping action by a Russian steelmaker, who is himself under pressure of a foreign bank default, and takeover interest from the state. The Mechel specialty steel and mining group, owned by Igor Zyuzin, […]

by Editor - Monday, April 6th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow This is a tale of how the appetite for assets comes full circle, and who gets carved up in the process. Vadim Varshavsky, a deputy of the State Duma and member of the parliamentary Committee on Industry, used to own steel-producing assets as part of a larger coal and steel […]

by John Helmer - Friday, April 3rd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The announcement from Mechel on March 26 that it has agreed with its bankers on a 51-day extension of time to repay or refinance a $1.5 billion loan, which fell due on March 20, has exposed a grave failure of arithmetic in the marketplace. And that’s not all. Headlined by […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, March 29th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s steelmakers have a better chance to lift output and revenues on a recovery in export demand, especially in the China market, than on reviving domestic demand for steel. This forecast, issued in a steel sector report of March 24 by Troika Dialog investment bank in Moscow, flatly contradicts the […]

by Editor - Thursday, March 26th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Moscow and New York stock markets appear to have been taken unawares by the disclosure that Igor Zyuzin’s steel and coal-mining group Mechel is in court over an unpaid demand by BNP Paribas for $60 million. The share price of the fifth-ranked Russian steelmaker rose 1.3% in Wednesday’s Moscow […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, March 19th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Sometimes it can happen that men of steel have a soft underbelly. It’s to protect that that they wear armour-plate. The release this week of group financial results for Severstal, the third ranked Russian steelmaker owned by Alexei Mordashov, exposes the high cost, and poor judgement perhaps, of Mordashov’s purchases […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Steelworkers at the Zlatoust steel mill, which is owned by Vadim Varshavsky’s Estar group, have won an unprecedented claim for wages cut by the company, following a local court ruling and a 5-day hunger strike. It is the first known case of a successful protest action by Russian steelworkers since […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 16th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russian steel proprietors are showing their anger at negative market reports, and share price cuts, following recent disclosure of their heavy investment spending on North American assets. But there has never been a time when the future growth and profitability of Russian steelmaking has depended less on the United States […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, March 5th, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow More than one worker in ten in the Russian mining and metals sector is currently out of work, or facing company-ordered reductions of work time or pay, or both. The statistics are being gathered by the Russian Mining and Metallurgical Trade Union, which has been monitoring job and pay conditions […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
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