Sept 28. Shareholders of Novorossiysk Sea Commercial Port (NSCP) gave the green light at Monday's EGM held in absentia

Finamrus com 28.09.2007 14:38
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Shareholders of Novorossiysk Sea Commercial Port (NSCP) gave the green light at Monday's EGM held in absentia to the initial public offering (IPO), the company's materials said. According to the document, investment banks Morgan Stanley and TD Investments Limited will act as IPO underwriters. The company has not disclosed the IPO amount. As Interfax sources close to the company said, NSCP mulls placing 10% to 20% of its common shares that will be sold to its major shareholders. The agenda of the September 24 EGM included the issue of a major deal provided for by the underwriting agreement as part of the public placement by the company's domestic and foreign shareholders of commons and GDRs.

Sept 27. UBS upgrades WGC-6 and Omsk Generating Company stocks to Buy, reducing WGC-3 target price 19%.

Finamrus com 27.09.2007 17:01
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Investment bank UBS has lowered its target price for WGC-3 from $0.16 to $0.13 per share as the period elapsed when Norilsk Nickel could buy out these shares from minority shareholders, UBS analysts Igor Goncharov and Olga Doronina said in a note. The Sell recommendation on the stock was left unchanged. In addition, the note said that WGC-6 and Omsk Generating Company (Omsk GC) saw their Sell and Hold recommendations lifted to Buy. Target prices for these securities which were calculated by UBS analysts were left intact, at $0.13 per share of WGC-6 and $190 per stock of Omsk GC.

Sept 26. S&P upgrades Novatek's rating to BB from BB-, positive outlook.

Finamrus com 26.09.2007 15:58
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International rating agency Standard & Poor's has raised Novatek's long-term corporate credit rating from BB- to BB. As the rating agency said in a press release, the rating carries a positive outlook. "The upgrade reflects the company's strong financial showings (net debt is absent and profits are high), and a gradual improvement in fundamentals of the Russian gas industry" - S&P credit analyst Elena Anankina pointed out. Major constraints for the company's rating, as the agency's experts think, are risks attached to the Russian gas sector, including extremely low gas prices on the domestic market and the operating dependence on gas transportation via the pipeline system operated by state-controlled Gazprom.

Sept 25. Cumulative foreign capital in the Russian economy equaled $178.5 bln in 7M07

Finamrus com 25.09.2007 14:09
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Cumulative foreign capital in the Russian economy equaled $178.5 bln in 7M07 or 40% higher than in the year-earlier period, acting vice PM Alexander Zhukov said at a plenary meeting during the 6th International Investment Forum in Sochi.

Sept 21. UBS cuts VTB GDR target price 17%, leaving Hold recommendation unchanged.

Finamrus com 21.09.2007 17:02
http://www.finamrus.com/newtopics/news03A29/default.asp

Investment bank UBS has cut its target price for Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) issued by VTB from $12 to $10 per receipt, the investment bank said in a note. The Hold recommendation on the lender's GDRs was left intact.

Sept 20. Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov and his family have acquired 287,120 shares of the oil company for a total of Rub 551.4 mln

Finamrus com 20.09.2007 13:04
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Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov and his family have acquired 287,120 shares of the oil company for a total of Rub 551.4 mln, Lukoil said in an official statement. By doing so, the oil major's chief executive increased his interest by 0.028%, snapping up 238,120 shares for Rub 457.7 mln. Meanwhile, his spouse Larisa Alekperova bought 27,000 shares for Rub 51.7 mln and Yusuf Alekperov, his son, purchased 22,000 stocks for Rub 42.1 mln.

Sept 18. German concern E.ON has snapped up a state-owned stake in WGC-4, offering Rub 3.3503 per share,

Finamrus com 18.09.2007 15:05
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German concern E.ON has snapped up a state-owned stake in WGC-4, offering Rub 3.3503 per share, while Russian Energy Projects, a company representing the interests of Gazprom, acquired TGC-1's shares, offering Rub 0.035 apiece, spokesmen of the gencos said. Installed capacity of WGC-4 was estimated at $753 per kW and TGC-1 at $646 per kW. "Given the company's net debt, TGC-1 was valued at $710 per kW" – TGC-1's board chairman Alexander Chikunov told the media Saturday.

Sept 14. Gazprom board chairman Alexey Miller and Kogas CEO Lee Su Ho discussed during a working meeting Thursday in Moscow

Finamrus com 14.09.2007 14:01
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Gazprom board chairman Alexey Miller and Kogas CEO Lee Su Ho discussed during a working meeting Thursday in Moscow prospects of teaming up in gas exploration, production and marketing activities in third countries. As the Russian gas monopoly said in a press release, the parties also reviewed the option of rolling out long-term cooperation ties when executing the inter-governmental gas agreement. Specifically, the executives discussed issues related to further cooperation in the area of LNG supplies and Russian pipeline gas exports to South Korea. Moreover, a decision was adopted at the meeting to perform a presentation of the Eastern Gas Program for Kogas.

Sept 13. Russia's macroeconomic policy will remain intact after the new Cabinet is appointed,

Finamrus com 13.09.2007 12:34
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Russia's macroeconomic policy will remain intact after the new Cabinet is appointed, acting finance minister Alexey Kudrin believes. "The country's macroeconomic policy will remain intact, as it has proven its efficiency" – he told reporters Wednesday. "I am absolutely confident that following parliamentary and presidential elections the newly formed Cabinet will pursue a policy aimed at stabilizing the national economy" – Kudrin said. "I am 100% certain that further efforts will be taken to liberalize the economy and even more active measures will be taken to pursue institutional and structural reforms" – he emphasized.

Sept 12. Russian companies are to increment their O&G reserves by 80 mln tons of crude oil and 426 bcm of gas in 2007,

Finamrus com 12.09.2007 14:31
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Russian companies are to increment their O&G reserves by 80 mln tons of crude oil and 426 bcm of gas in 2007, Deputy Natural Resources Minister Alexey Varlamov said at the 7th International Conference for the development of O&G reserves in the Arctic Ocean and CIS continental offshore areas in Saint Petersburg Tuesday. He went on to say that until 2020 Russian businesses will increase their oil and gas reserves by 9 bln tons and 16.5 tcm, respectively.

Sept 11. Russian and UAE governments signed an agreement Monday

Finamrus com 11.09.2007 14:06
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Russian and UAE governments signed an agreement Monday on the settlement of the former USSR's debt whereby Russia is to pay more than $457.98 mln, Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak said. "Due to the improvements in Russia's financial standing, the repayment of the debt to the Paris Club of Creditors, the creditor (UAE) advised Russia to solve this issue by repaying the debt with goods and settle up the debt issue by paying a lump sum payment" – Storchak told the media in Abu Dhabi Monday.

Sept 7. Sberbank of Russia has not given up plans to get listed on LSE despite deteriorating conditions on the global financial market,

Finamrus com 07.09.2007 14:13
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Sberbank of Russia has not given up plans to get listed on LSE despite deteriorating conditions on the global financial market, the lender's CEO and board chairman Andrey Kazmin told the media after an agreement was signed between Sberbank and the Central Elections Commission Thursday. "We are currently analyzing the situation and I would refrain from naming any timeframe (for Sberbank's LSE listing – Interfax-AFI), although this does not imply the rejection of LSE listing plans.

Sept 6. WGC-2 to launch road show in run-up to IPO on September 14,

Finamrus com 06.09.2007 14:05
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WGC-2 to launch road show in run-up to IPO on September 14, a source in the financial circles told Interfax. The company’s fair market value, as estimated by investment company Troika Dialog (one of WGC-2’s SPO arrangers) is $5.3-5.9 bln, the same source said. According to earlier news wires, Deutsche Bank valued the utility concern at $4.9-6.2 bln. The road show will be conducted on LSE, RTS and MICEX. WGC-2 is going to place up to 70% of its additional shares abroad. Apart from GDRs issued on WGC-2 securities, investors will also be offered to buy bonds convertible into GDRs.

Sept 4. TGC-4 shareholders decided at an EGM held in absentia to endorse

Finamrus com 04.09.2007 12:09
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TGC-4 shareholders decided at an EGM held in absentia to endorse the company's additional share issue aimed at drawing investments. As the utility concern said in a press release, the SPO issue was approved by 99.6% of the shareholders who attended the EGM. TGC-4 will issue 586 bln common shares with Rub 0.01 par value each, constituting 42% of the company's charter capital before placement and 29.6% after stock flotation. TGC-4 intends to raise Rub 18 bln by placing additional shares.

Sept 3. International rating agency Standard & Poor's has confirmed MMK's long-term credit rating at BB

Finamrus com 03.09.2007 14:05
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International rating agency Standard & Poor's has confirmed MMK's long-term credit rating at BB and the national scale rating of ruAA, the agency said in a press release. The ratings carry a positive outlook. "MMK is far away from sea ports, with production facilities based within a single production site, it has no vertical integration when it comes to raw material output and it depends on fluctuations in prices that are common for commodities markets. These are the main drawbacks exerting an adverse impact on the company's business profile and its current rating" – S&P credit analyst Andrey Nikolaev announced. When making ratings the agency also took into consideration the fact that MMK plans to make large-scale investments in upgrading its production base. MMK's ratings are positively influenced by low costs, which translates into strong margins and cash flow figures, the favorable environment on the global steel market, and also its improving financial performance and corporate governance standards.

Aug 31. Polyus Gold, Russia's #1 gold producer, has paid out the first dividends in its history,

Finamrus com 31.08.2007 14:02
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Polyus Gold, Russia's #1 gold producer, has paid out the first dividends in its history, the company said in a statement. Polyus Gold that was incorporated last spring paid Rub 613.6 mln (Rub 3.23 per share) to its shareholders or 99.65% of the total sum allocated to dividend payouts. Polyus Gold remains under the obligation to pay the remaining 0.35% of dividend payouts in full. The ex-dividend date was May 11, 2007.