By John Helmer in Moscow

The owner of the stranded Russian cruise ship, Lyubov Orlova, has failed to meet a deadline this week for selling the vessel and paying its debts.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
No Comments »

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow

Sovcomflot (SCF), the state oil tanker company and currently the 5th energy shipper in the world, has made its first detailed public disclosure to investment markets in a multi-million dollar debt prospectus. Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, and VTB are the arrangers.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Monday, October 18th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow

The US Government has decided not to let Victor Vekselberg off so easily.

The US District Attorney for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan) has filed for an extension of time to allow the Justice Department in Washington to consider a detailed brief, arguing that Vekselberg should face the full force of the American racketeering statute. This is the start of an attempt by the government to override a ruling by three appeals court judges last month that whatever Vekselberg had done, for good or ill, was beyond the jurisdiction of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Sunday, October 17th, 2010
No Comments »

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 to the “three-feet rule”set down in its licence. To keep the dancers entertaining rather than prostituting themselves, the rule requires the customers to keep three feet from the performers. But the club had found a loophole in the regulation. This allowed the girls to get very close if they weren’t performing their licensed dances. In the clinches, the club testified the girls were doing no more than exercising their freedom of association, without commercial benefit for the bar. The court didn’t buy it.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Friday, October 15th, 2010
No Comments »

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 his opponent; and fixed the timetable for Deripaska to face trial on charges of fraud, deceit, and breach of trust.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Thursday, October 14th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow

Gennady Timchenko and his allies in state-controlled companies in the Russian oil business are gradually consolidating their dominance over much of Russian oil from the wellhead to the tanker enroute to international markets, and much of the transportation network in between. As the largest energy exporter in the world, Russia naturally aims to be a reliable supplier to its clients. And Timchenko, who lives in Switzerland and France and reportedly carries a Finnish passport, is by all accounts a very reliable fellow. The London law firm Schillings vouches for him – and that says a lot.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow

How much gold should potential investors in Alexei Mordashov’s gold-mining venture, now named NordGold, think they are buying into?
(more…)

by John Helmer - Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow

The Severstal steel and mining group, owned by Alexei Mordashov, has issued a prospectus this week for the issue of up to $3 billion in loan participation notes to restructure the group’s current debts. The issue is being underwritten by Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Mordashov’s group reports its current long and short-term obligations at $6.3 billion, with $1.8 billion in cash and equivalent on hand, making a net debt level of $4.5 billion.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Monday, October 11th, 2010
No Comments »

By John Helmer in Moscow

The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has ordered the arrest of the Russian-owned cruise vessel, Lyubov Orlova, after the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) filed suit last week on behalf of the crew. The 49 Russian and 2 Ukrainian mariners have been stranded on the vessel at the port of St. John’s, Newfoundland, after the Russian owners stopped payments four months ago.
(more…)

by John Helmer - Monday, October 11th, 2010
No Comments »