Moscow press review for May 31, 2012
MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on May 31. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
The State Duma property committee has approved a bill under which the fate of foreign investment in popular Internet services and any print mass media outlets would be decided by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. At present, such restrictions apply only to television and radio broadcasting and print publications with a circulation of more than 1 million (Vedomosti, p. 1).
Russia has moved up one rung to 48th place among 59 countries in IMD's annual World Competitiveness ranking. Russia saw considerable improvements in tax collection, personal safety, quality of life and economic stability, according to the study. Russia was the only BRIC country that did not fall in the ranking (Vedomosti, p. 1; Kommersant, p. 8).
Interview: Alexei Komissarov, Director of the Moscow City Government's Science and Industrial Policy Department (Vedomosti, p. 5).
OIL & GAS
The Russian consortium of Alfa Group, Access and Renova (AAR) has for the first time officially acknowledged that it is prepared to buy out rival shareholder BP's stake in TNK-BP, or swap its 50% stake in the Russian oil company for shares in BP (Vedomosti, p. 7).
Rosneft has completed a buyback announced following changes to the terms of oil exports to China. Shareholders tendered shares totalling about 60 billion rubles, or about 2.7% of the state oil company's charter capital. These shares could be used in deals with strategic investors or returned to the market (Kommersant, p. 9).
Gazprom and Novatek, during hearings in the State Duma on Wednesday, warned of the dire consequences for Russia's gas sector resulting from a steep increase in the natural resource extraction tax (NRET), and urged the government to lower the tax rate. However, it is still not clear for whom the rate will be reduced - for all companies or just independent producers (Vedomosti, p. 8).
Interview: Mikhail Fridman, Co-owner of Alfa Group and former CEO of TNK-BP (Kommersant, p. 1).
UTILITIES
Gazprom Energoholding has acknowledged poor management of Russia's largest thermal power company, OGK-2. The company is short 20 billion rubles for its investment program. In order to plug the hole in its budget, there are plans for a new share issue that could nearly triple OGK-2's charter capital (Vedomosti, p. 7).
METALS & MINING
Russia's biggest producer of NPK fertilizer, Acron said it has been forced to shut down production because monopoly apatite producer, PhosAgro's Apatit has stopped supplying raw material. The price dispute between PhosAgro and Acron has erupted against the backdrop of the upcoming privatization in June of the state stake in Apatit, which both companies are thought to want (Kommersant, p. 13; Vedomosti, p. 8).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
Sberbank reported net profit up 6.2% year-on-year to 92.2 billion rubles in the first quarter of 2012, beating analysts' expectations. Russia's leading lender also surprised analysts with an improvement in the quality of its loan portfolio and release of provisions. However, operating expenses rose while the interest margin narrowed (Kommersant, p. 12; Vedomosti, p. 9).
RETAIL & CONSUMER MARKET
Close relatives of the founders of Lanta Tour Voyage, the travel firm that collapsed in January despite the personal intervention of Vladimir Putin, have set up a new firm specializing in cruises, which was a key business for Lanta (Kommersant, p. 1).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
AFK Sistema, which decided to become an investment company last year, will be restructured, the Russian conglomerate's principal shareholder and chairman Vladimir Yevtushenkov said. Sistema, with far ranging interests from telecoms to energy, plans to structure its assets into nine portfolios that will be run by investment managers (Vedomosti, p. 7).
Yandex, a leading Russian Internet company, has launched its first pay service, Yandex.Music, a mobile music subscription application for the iPhone offering a catalog of over 3 million tracks. An Android version is in the works. This is likely to please analysts who have urged Yandex to diversify its revenues and focus on mobile services (Vedomosti, p. 7).
AUTOMOTIVE & ENGINEERING
Russia's United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) and China's Comac plan to form a joint venture to develop a new long-range jet based on the Il-96 that could potentially compete with Boeing and Airbus. Russia will provide the know-how, and China will provide the cash. The agreement is to be signed June 5-6 during President Vladimir Putin's visit to China (Vedomosti, p. 1).