Moscow press review for February 1, 2012
MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on February 1. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
The GDP growth figure for 2011 published by the Federal Statistics Service on Tuesday was unexpectedly high at 4.3%. This was even higher than the estimate of 4.2% announced earlier by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The Statistics Service attributes the growth in large part to renewal of company inventories depleted in 2008-2009, but analysts disagree (Kommersant, p. 6).
OIL & GAS
A month before the presidential elections, one of the candidates, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is trying to win the loyalty of the country's 30 million rural residents at the expense of oil companies. He has tripled the fuel discount for agricultural producers and increased the amount discounted supplies by 10%. This will cost oil companies more than 20 billion rubles (Kommersant, p. 1).
UTILITIES
Inter RAO UES, which completed consolidating remaining state electricity assets just last year, could seek new acquisitions as early as in 2012. In mid-February shareholders will be asked to approve borrowing of 60 billion rubles and 1.65 billion euros. The money will be raised by Netherlands-based Inter RAO Credit B.V. (Kommersant, p. 11).
METALS & MINING
Global mining giant Rio Tinto, in a third attempt to work in Russia, has formed an exploration joint venture with ICT Group. The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said Tuesday that it has given the green light for the venture Rio Tinto ICT Limited to buy LLC Olkhovoye, which explores for and mines gold and silver (Kommersant, p. 9).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
Russian banks won a significant victory against the tax authorities on Tuesday, as the Supreme Arbitration Court took their side in a dispute over payment of value-added tax on the sale of collateral acquired on unpaid loans. The court essentially recognized the need for banks to sell off collateral as a crisis force majeure and gave banks indefinite preferences for VAT payment on such transactions (Kommersant, p. 9).
Sberbank has become the first Russian issuer to enter the Eurobond market since last November. Just two weeks ago, Sberbank head German Gref said the capital markets were closed even for top borrowers. Nonetheless, demand from investors enabled Russia's biggest lender to lower initial yield targets and place both five- and ten-year bonds. The overall amount raised could total $1.5 billion (Kommersant, p. 10).
REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
OPIN, a major Russian real estate developer controlled by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, plans to expand its project portfolio by more than 500,000 square meters by 2016. In addition to its usual suburban residential developments, OPIN plans to build two shopping centers on the outskirts of Moscow at a cost of $65 million (Kommersant, p. 12).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
The government has nominated former MTS president Vasily Sidorov, former Rusnano CEO Leonid Melamed and the head of Russian-German energy agency Rudea, Thomas Hendel, to the board of directors of state telecoms holding company Svyazinvest. Meanwhile, the last government official on Svyazinvest's board, Deputy Communications Minister Alexander Zharov, may lose his seat as the Kremlin has not approved his candidacy (Kommersant, p. 1).
Russia's largest regional Internet and cable TV provider, ER-Telecom, which has announced plans to win 20% of these markets in revenue by 2014, increased its subscriber base by 44% in 2011. But it had to sacrifice profitability to do so, closing the year with a loss of 2.08 billion rubles on revenue up 43% to 9.69 billion rubles (Kommersant, p. 13).
TRANSPORTATION
Interview: Vladimir Lelekov, Managing Partner of Brunswick Rail, one of Russia's leading private railcar leasing companies (Kommersant, p. 14).
Vedomosti was not available at the time the press review was issued.