Moscow press review for October 30, 2012
MOSCOW. Oct 30 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on October 30. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
The Kremlin's campaign against protestors has been unsuccessful, as Russians do not believe that the organizers of protest rallies wanted to overthrow the government by force. Only 24% of Russians believe protest organizers are trying to institute a coup and are organizing riots to this end, a Levada Center survey shows (Vedomosti, p. 1).
The leaders of the Rodina party and Russian Party of Pensioners for Justice on Monday publicly disavowed their alliance with A Just Russia. The move is another blow to A Just Russia, which is being deserted by sponsors, State Duma deputies and rank and file members (Kommersant, p. 1; Vedomosti, p. 2).
Russia's Economic Development Ministry has again revised its inflation forecast for October upward, to 0.8%. This means inflation in the first ten months of the year could be 6%, putting into question whether the ministry's recently revised annual inflation forecast of 7% will be met (Kommersant, p. 8).
OIL & GAS
Russian gas giant Gazprom plans to spend 1.2 trillion rubles on the development of the huge Chayanda field and the construction of a gas pipeline to Vladivostok. The long-term goal is to establish a new center for exports to the Asia-Pacific region that will be comparable to the scale of exports to Europe (Vedomosti, p. 1).
The Gazprom group has decided that producing shale gas in Russia is unrealistic, but it is interested in producing shale oil. Gazprom Neft plans to begin active development of Bazhenov shale. Analysts attribute oil companies' interest in shale to the tax breaks for difficult to recover oil that Russia is set to introduce in 2013 (Kommersant, p. 11; Vedomosti, p. 7).
METALS & MINING
The Regional Development Ministry, Transport Ministry and railways agency are recommending the government stop financing the construction of the Kyzyl-Kuragino railroad, which is needed for the development of the Yenisei Industrial Company's Elegest coal field, one of Russia's largest. Government officials doubt the company will meet its obligations on the project (Kommersant, p. 11; Vedomosti, p. 8).
Interview: Artyom Volynets, CEO of En+ Group (Vedomosti, p. 6).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
MasterCard has become the first payment system working in Russia to officially disclose the interchange fees it charges on card purchases. They are far higher than the rates charged by Russian players. However, this does not make the latter more popular or settlements on cards more affordable for consumers due to the high market share of international payment systems (Kommersant, p. 1).
One of the largest investors in Russian equities is Oppenheimer Funds of the United States. The portfolio of Oppenheimer Developing Markets as of August 31 included shares in Magnit, Novatek, Eurasia Drilling and Yandex worth a total of $1.7 billion (Vedomosti, p. 7).
The Russian government has decided how it will partially privatize VTB. Next year the bank will probably be authorized to first issue new shares and then the government will sell part of its stake, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told investors in London on Monday (Vedomosti, p. 7).
RETAIL & CONSUMER MARKET
Small stores with a narrow range of products and low prices are no longer attracting more demanding Russian shoppers. The loyalty of residents of large cities to discounters has fallen to new lows, which is why the Pyaterochka, Magnit and Dixy chains have been losing customers (Vedomosti, p. 7).
REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
The owner of the Zenit football club, Gazprom, has not managed to replace the contractor for the arena being built in St. Petersburg since 2007. Billionaire Oleg Deripaska has reached an agreement with city Governor Georgy Poltavchenko to extend the government contract with his construction company Transstroy, and even increase its price by at least 10.5 billion rubles (Kommersant, p. 1).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russia's Alfa Group, has bought back a 5.995% voting stake in Vimpelcom Ltd from Ukrainian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk's EastOne for $217.5 million, increasing its voting interest in the mobile operator to 47.85%. Altimo's voting stake in Vimpelcom is now bigger than that of rival shareholder Telenor (Vedomosti, p. 1).
The International Olympic Committee has not approved the Internet access fees and rate table for various services at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Rostelecom, the telecommunications partner for the Games, wants to charge 7,100 rubles for 32 days of access, which is far higher than the Internet fees charged at this past summer's Olympics in London (Kommersant, p. 1).
TRANSPORTATION
The government's 20% stake in Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) might be sold in an SPO at the start of November. Meetings with potential investors will begin Tuesday. Analysts said the government is trying to take advantage of the favourable market situation and whet investors' appetite for future deals (Kommersant, p. 9; Vedomosti, p. 8).
