Moscow press review for October 27, 2011
MOSCOW. October 27 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on October 27. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
VEDOMOSTI
Russian Railways wants to spend 7.5 billion rubles that the budget will allocate to it for building a road to the Primorsk port belonging to Transneft and Summa Group to expand the approaching line to Ust-Luga, where Gennady Timchenko's terminal operates. No decision has yet been made on redistributing the funds in favor of Ust-Luga, although Russian Railways has already won the Transportation Ministry's support. "The Ust-Luga development project is a priority to us, and extra financing will be needed," Deputy Transportation Minister Viktor Olersky said. The Finance Ministry has not yet received proposals on redistributing the 7.5 billion rubles in favor of Ust-Luga, a ministry spokesperson said. Dmitry Peskov, the prime minister's spokesman, said "the appropriateness of redistributing the funds is under consideration." ('Russian Railways Throws Switch To Gunvor')
Gennady Timchenko could expand his business on Friday if Transoil manages to acquire Freight One. Russian Railways will sell 75% minus two shares in Freight One, its biggest subsidiary and Russia's biggest railroad operator, at an auction with a starting price of 125 billion rubles. This will be the largest privatization transaction in the domestic railroad sector. Competing with Transoil for the asset will be quite strong rivals, among them Vladimir Lisin's Universal Cargo Logistics Holding. Igor Romashov says that, even if Transoil fails to win the auction, the company will employ other ways to diversify its business. ('We Are Not Sharing Anything Here - Igor Romashov, Transoil's Future Board Chairman')
Sberbank and Avtotor have signed a cooperation agreement, under which a full-cycle production facility capable of manufacturing 300,000 cars a year should be set up in 2012-2019. Investments in the project could amount to 20 billion rubles. The project envisions, in particular, the full-cycle assembly of BMW, as is evident from Avtotor's presentation. Avtotor's proceeds from BMW assembly should amount to 150 billion rubles, and the project's recoupment period is seven years. Avtotor is now expecting BMW's consent, an official from the Kaliningrad region administration told Vedomosti. A BMW spokesperson said the company has not yet made a decision on expanding production in Russia. ('20 Bln Rubles, If Need Be')
KOMMERSANT
The purchase of the Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery in the Rostov region by Zarubezhneft has been delayed by the introduction of the new tax regulation known as '60-66'. Analysts believe that the refinery, which was earlier valued at about $500 million, could drop in price to a fraction of this amount. Anyway, the value of the deal will ultimately depend on what way of development Zarubezhneft chooses. (Page 11, 'Zarubezhneft Fails To Get To Refinery')
Kommersant has learned that only three companies, i.e. Gazpromtrans, Neftetransservice, and Ziyad Manasir's Spetsenergotrans, have displayed interest in buying Russia's major railroad liquefied gas transporter, SG-Trans, preliminarily valued at 13 billion rubles. Contrary to expectations, neither Freight One, nor Sibur, or Novatek appeared at preliminary meetings with Renaissance Broker, the agent authorized by the government to handle the deal. (Page 11, 'Three Come After SG-Trans')
