By John Helmer, Moscow
The long-serving chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alrosa, the state diamond mining monopoly, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin(background image), has announced he will step down at the next Alrosa shareholder meeting scheduled for June 30. Kudrin’s exit from the board has been ordered by a presidential decree, issued on April 2, requiring senior Russian ministers to vacate their seats on state-owned company boards.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
The three greatest Canadians of all time are Glenn Gould, Pierre Trudeau, and Dudley Do-Right. A poll of Canadian businessmen in Moscow recently recommended Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr to displace the first two. The Canadian Broadcasting Commission nationwide poll of 2004 put Tommy Douglas and Terry Fox at the top. Then too, Gordon Lightfoot (“If You Could Read My Mind”) was at no. 33 and Leonard Cohen (“Bird on the Wire”) at No. 46.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Vadim Moshkovich – Senator from Belgorod, owner of Rusagro (aka Ros Agro Plc), which sold its shares in London last week — has been singing this golden oldie from The Searchers (1963). Don’t miss the last chorus line: “I’ll never ever let you go…Oooooo, Oooooo, Ooooo” Rusagro was 94% owned by Moshkovich until the initial public offering (IPO) which was implemented in London last week; his wife, Natalia Bykovskaya, owns another 1%, both of them through Shiny, a British Virgin Islands-registered company. Vadim Basov, their employee and chief executive of Rusagro, owns 5%. Basov bought his stake from Moshkovich a few days before the listing began, paying $15 million. He and Moshkovich thus valued their company at $300 million.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Euroset, the Russian mobile telephone company, failed at its attempt at its initial public offering (IPO) in London this week. Officially, the company is struggling to absorb the punch, and is blaming the markets, not itself. “Despite the fact that in the investment community there was an increased interest in Euroset,” Euroset’s chief Alexander Malis told a Moscow newspaper, “we decided to postpone the IPO due to volatility in the markets”.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
To modernize, privatize, incentivize, and win the votes of Russians yearning to be free, President Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the senior ministers of the federal government to vacate their seats on the boards of state companies. First to go – on his own resignation, eleven weeks ahead of deadline – is Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
On Monday morning, we reported:
“Supposing Fridman has convinced Sechin to put the Deripaska squeeze on Dudley, the buy-out price to remove AAR from TNK-BP, allowing BP to proceed with its Rosneft deal, would add 50% to TNK-BP’s market cap – that’s an extra $25.7 billion. AAR’s half-share of the new valuation would come to $38.5 billion. That amounts to one-quarter of BP.”
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By John Helmer, Moscow
When it comes to transparency of corporate practice and accountability for the spending of state money, Alrosa, the Russian state diamond monopoly, isn’t famous.
But one thing is finally clear – Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has at long last gotten his wish to be relieved from having to serve as chairman of the board of directors (aka Supervisory Board) of the company. By the presidential order of April 2, Kudrin has been ordered to vacate the chairmanship of Alrosa by July 1.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
The primaries for the Russian presidential campaign have already begun, and there are three contenders – Igor Sechin, Dmitry Kozak, and Dmitry Medvedev. Vladimir Putin isn’t a contender – he is the convention with all the votes; he makes the choice.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
In the game of cricket, nothing is rarer than a hat-trick. That is when the bowler for one side dismisses three batsmen for the opposing side in three successive balls. For the bowling side, it is a rare triumph, and almost never happens in international test games. For the batting side, it is one of the greatest of humiliations.
In Russia, cricket is almost unheard of, and up against the Russian oligarchic combines, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) rarely inflicts humiliation.
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By John Helmer, Moscow
It’s nearly time for the peonies to bloom in China. But not for Oleg Deripaska’s plantings, at least not this season.
According to sources at Deripaska’s electricity company, Eurosibenergo, the Chinese government has so far refused to approve the investment of state-controlled funds by China Yangtze Power Company (CYPC) in Eurosibenergo, and thereby guarantee its initial public share offering (IPO) on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Accordingly, the Eurosibenergo is off for the second time in four months.
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