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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 noted that Mechel has already been active in taking over operating rights of several other steelmills which, like DEMZ, had been owned by Vadim Varshavsky (left figure) until last year. Then he lost them in regional court bankruptcy actions, after he defaulted on about $3 billion worth of loan obligations – considerably more than the steelmills he mortgaged were worth. The four Varshavsky steelmills transferred to Mechel so far are Nytva, Zlatoust, Rostov, and Gurievsk: http://johnhelmer.net/?p=1772 and http://johnhelmer.net/?p=1501
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, February 24th, 2010
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Before Mmm-Modernization (more…)
by John Helmer - Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow
Evraz, Russia’s largest steelmaking and mining group, owned by three Russian oligarchs, continues to wage commercial war against a single Ukrainian oligarch on a Dniepropetrovsk railway track, and through the Evraz group’s Moscow press office. The contest is on home ground for Igor Kolomoisky (bottom image), who went to school in the region; it is going less well for the three Russians – Roman Abramovich and Eugene Shvidler, who live in London, and Alexander Abramov, currently chairman of the Evraz board of directors (top 3 images).
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by John Helmer - Friday, February 19th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow
Crew Gold, the Toronto and Oslo-listed junior miner whose gold reserves and mining operations are mostly in the West African republic of Guinea, is facing a legal challenge from Guinea’s mining minister, Mahmoud Thiam.
The bad news from Guinea has landed immediately after Crew Gold’s controlling shareholder, Norwegian Jens Ulltveit-Moe (right image), agreed to share his loss-making mining company with Alexei Mordashov (left image), the Russian oligarch who runs steelmills in Russia, Italy, and the US; and whose Severstal Resources owns Canadian-listed High River Gold, as well as an iron-ore mine in Liberia.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, February 18th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow
Embattled Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (left image) met in Moscow on Tuesday with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (right image) in hope of reviving Russian plans to deliver a new crude oil pipeline from Burgas, on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, to the Greek terminal of Alexandroupoli, on the Aegean; as well as confirm Gazprom’s future gas delivery plans across Greece.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow
Mahmoud Thiam, the US investment banker who has served for the past year as Guinea’s Minister of Mining, Energy and Hydraulics, has been reappointed to his post, according to an official government announcement from Conakry, the Guinean capital, late last night.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
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Question: What measures are being taken to ensure the safety of foreigners [in Russia]?
Prime Minister: That is a big problem. Unfortunately, we have all heard of very sad cases, even tragedies, that happened to foreign students in our country in the past. I think the authorities have shown a response that is commensurate with the threat. As a result, in 2009 interethnic and interfaith crimes were halved compared with 2008. Crimes against foreign students fell by 34%. We have set up an interdepartmental group at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and other regional bodies.
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by John Helmer - Monday, February 15th, 2010
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We interrupt this news bulletin to bring
you a broadcast from Captain Obvious
on location live above the Kremlin
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by John Helmer - Monday, February 15th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow
The federal mine inspectorate in Russia, Rostekhnadzor (RTN), has cleared Evraz’s mine subsidiary Yuzhkuzbassugol (YKU) to reopen the Esaulskaya mine, after a methane accident on January 20 led to a regional court-ordered closure on January 25. Evraz is owned by Roman Abramovich’s Millhouse holding, and Alexander Abramov.
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by John Helmer - Monday, February 8th, 2010
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