Moscow press review for October 28, 2013
MOSCOW. Oct 28 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on October 28. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
Russia's Investigative Committee and Federal Anti-Monopoly Service are proposing to impose prison sentences on government officials and businessmen found guilty of anti-competitive collusion. The regulator says it annually uncovers hundreds of non-competitive agreements between government authorities and businesses (Vedomosti, p. 1).
Exit polls showed Georgy Margvelashvili winning Georgia's presidential election Sunday with about 68% of the vote, putting an end to the era of President Mikheil Saakashvili (Kommersant, p. 1; Vedomosti, p. 3).
Following a disappointing third quarter, with year-on-year growth still hovering at only 1.2%, Russia's Economic Development Ministry now believes its economic growth forecast of 1.8% for 2013 is too optimistic. If current trends continue, growth could even fall short of 1.5% (Vedomosti, p. 4).
OIL & GAS
The Russian government is making another attempt to regulate the oil products market. The competition regulator and the energy and economy ministries have been ordered to draft legislative initiatives to strengthen mechanisms for setting "objective price indicators on oil products" and "trade practices" (Kommersant, p. 8).
Lukoil has struck a flow of light crude at a well at the West Qurna 2 field in Iraq. Commercial production will begin in the next few months and the Russian oil company plans to produce 150,000 barrels per day at the field starting in 2014 (Vedomosti, p. 10).
Transneft subsidiary Transnefteprodukt plans to sign contracts with oil companies on cofinancing for the construction of the South pipeline to Novorossiysk that is supposed to boost oil product exports through Black Sea ports. Upon completion of the pipeline, oil companies will reimburse the project costs under "pump or pay" contracts (Kommersant, p. 11).
METALS & MINING
Russian diamond monopoly Alrosa closed the order book for its IPO on Friday at the lower end of the price range, raising $1.3 billion. Much of the demand came from foreign investors, with Lazard reportedly placing an order for $300 million (Kommersant, p. 9; Vedomosti, p. 10).
Norilsk Nickel will pay out more than $1 billion in interim dividends for the first nine months of 2013. The Russian mining giant's shareholders will get about another $1 billion for the year (Vedomosti, p. 11).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
The Central Bank of Russia might soon be able to restrict interest rates not only on retail loans, but also loans issued by microfinance organizations. Amendments giving the Central Bank the power to calculate average rates on loans and allowable deviations from them has been included in a consumer lending bill that the State Duma will soon vote on in the second reading (Kommersant, p. 1).
A third of the payment agents on Russia's terminal payments market, which has annual turnover of about 900 billion rubles, could disappear as a result of regulatory capital standards that the Central Bank plans to impose. Officials are currently discussing a minimum capital figure of 10 million rubles (Kommersant, p. 10).
RETAIL & CONSUMER MARKET
The Doktor Stoletov pharmacy chain is buying St. Petersburg-based discount chain Ozerki in a deal worth an estimated 3 billion rubles. The merged retailer, with 16 billion rubles in sales, will become one of Russia's top three pharmacy chains (Kommersant, p. 12).
REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
Contractors are expecting revenues from construction of gas pipelines to decline as Gazprom, the world's biggest gas company scales back its investment program. The upcoming freeze on Gazprom's tariffs is forcing construction companies to diversify and seek other clients (Vedomosti, p. 1).
Maxim Atayants, the architect responsible for a number of Olympic venues in Sochi, has won the tender for the design concepts for the Russian Supreme Court's new home in central St. Petersburg. However, the commission decided against including housing in the plans. The Finance Ministry has successfully lobbied to sell court buildings in Moscow to finance the project (Kommersant, p. 1).
Interview: Ziyad Manasir, President of Stroygazconsulting (Vedomosti, p. ).
AUTOMOTIVE & ENGINEERING
United Shipbuilding Corporation will have to consolidate 100% of shares in Arctech Helsinki Shipyard, which it now owns equally with STX, as the South Korean company has exercised a put option to sell its stake. But the unprofitable Finish shipyard is burdened by debt and the Russian state company will have to find orders worth 1 billion euros in order to save it (Kommersant, p. 1).
