Moscow press review for July 15, 2016
MOSCOW. July 15 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on July 15. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
The Federal Tax Service has begun removing offshore tax havens from its blacklist of countries that do not share tax information with Russia or do so poorly as these jurisdictions become more transparent. The latest seven countries taken off the list include the popular offshore zones of the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Mauritius and Aruba, as well as Hong Kong, Estonia and Georgia (Vedomosti, p. 1).
The Russian government has approved the economy ministry's proposals for identification and sale of noncore assets by state companies and other state-controlled legal entities. Govt agencies overseeing them have been ordered to follow these rules, which could become mandatory for all state companies. Sales are to be organized by 22 investment banks and six electronic platforms accredited for privatization. The new rules will make it more difficult to dispose of assets at knock-down prices (Kommersant, p. 1).
Russia's regions might get access to commercial loans with floating interest rates, as federal budget loans are still insufficient. The economy ministry is discussing this possibility with banks and the Finance Ministry, which is considering various options to reduce interest rates on commercial loans for financial recovery of the country's regions. Regions and municipalities are due to pay down 500 billion rubles of debt this year (Vedomosti, p. 4).
METALS & MINING
Leading Russian pipe manufacturer TMK is planning to issue new shares at 50% above the market price. The shares will be bought up by TMK divisions in order to settle up with VTB for 10 billion rubles received from the state bank. TMK plans to place 4.25% of increased charter capital for 3.12 billion rubles, valuing the whole company at 70 billion rubles, though its market cap on the Moscow Exchange was 45.8 billion rubles on Thursday (Vedomosti, p. 10).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
The Russian authorities have resolved the issue of who will regulate debt collection agencies. President Vladimir Putin might sign an order by the end of August under which they would be monitored by the Justice Ministry and Federal Bailiff Service. But the problem of financing oversight of debt collectors has yet to be solved (Kommersant, p. 1).
The Russian ruble renewed its 2016 high on Thursday, climbing to 62.9 rubles/$1 and 69.9 rubles/euro on the Moscow Exchange, the highest it has been since November 2015. This is a technical gain due to dividend payments by major Russian exporters, which forced them to sell forex, as well the tax season, analysts said. They do not see any fundamental reasons for the ruble to strengthen (Vedomosti, p. 11; Kommersant, p. 8).
RETAIL & CONSUMER MARKET
Moscow's program to upgrade streets in the city center has cost a number of retailers up to 50% of their sales. Fashion chains have been hardest hit and some are considering temporary store closures. Retailers are now asking landlords to cut rents in half, but the latter are only willing to offer discounts of 10-20%. They expect foot traffic and consequently rents to increase after the program is completed (Kommersant, p. 1).
REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
Russian state bank VEB might get a 49% stake in Asia Cement, the owner of a cement plant with annual capacity of 1.86 million tonnes in Penza Region, in a deal to restructure $259.6 million in loans. Asia Cement's beneficiary is offshore firm Cedarwood Global, which was named in the Panama Papers, but market players believe the real owner is former Kyrgyz Prime Minister Apas Dzhumagulov (Kommersant, p. 7).
Having bought out Sberbank's stake in the Presnya City residential development project in Moscow, Vasily Anisimov's Coalco Group has found a new partner to build the property. Russia's competition regulator has given tentative approval for a deal between Coalco's Brancusi Holding and VTB Real Estate, a division of state banking group VTB. The project could cost $450 million (Kommersant, p. 7).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
President Vladimir Putin said that telecom and Internet providers should store users' conversations and correspondents, as required by a new anti-terrorism law, on Russian equipment. Such equipment exists in Russia, but its components are imported. A list of companies that could manufacture such storage systems, which could cost tens of billions of rubles, will be compiled by the Internet + Sovereignty subgroup of a Kremlin working group chaired by presidential aide Igor Schegolev (Vedomosti, p. 10).
Yandex.Market, Russia's largest online marketplace, has finished testing a model that will make it possible for users not to go to a vendor's website to make a purchase. It is now moving most product categories from the Cost per Click to the Cost per Action payment model, which already generates about 20% of its revenue (Vedomosti, p. 11).