Moscow press review for July 7, 2011
MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on July 7. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
VEDOMOSTI
Two major investors in the energy sector Gazprom and Viktor Vekselberg have made up their minds to combine assets. The sides may announce the upcoming deal on Thursday. Gazprom and Vekselberg's KES-Holding plan to sign a memorandum of understanding, under which several months will be spent on drawing up a plan to combine the two companies' energy assets, a representative of one party in the talks told Vedomosti. When combined, the assets will account for a quarter of Russia's energy capacities. (Energy Champion, see also Kommersant. Page 1. Gazprom UES of Russia.)
Metalloinvest has allotted dividends of 17.8% of last year's IFRS net profit, amounting to 6.5 billion rubles, the company said in an investment memorandum to its Eurobond issue. Another 7.4 billion rubles went to the holding company's co-owners for the first quarter of 2011, which accounts for 39.6% of the profit from January to March. On average, metallurgical companies hand the co-owners a quarter of the IFRS revenue, said BKS analyst Maxim Lobada. If Metalloinvest maintains payouts at the level of the first quarter, the company could be described as a highly profitable asset, the expert said.
A representative of Metalloinvest said the company has no dividend policy and it decides each time on the size of the payouts after assessing its debt and investment plans. (Billions for Usmanov).
KOMMERSANT
Gazprom may lose one more consumers in Europe. After Croatia, Bulgaria plans to cut purchases of Russian gas sharply, from the current 2 billion cubic meters to 500,000. The country pins hopes on growth in its own extraction, on gas purchases in Turkey, and on the development of shale gas fields, whose prospect arouses skepticism in Gazprom. (Page 9. Bulgaria Looking for Replacement for Russian Gas).
Sberbank has a rival on the international acquisitions market. Hungary's OTP Bank has shown interest in acquiring a division of Austria's Volksbanken Group. Sberbank was the only bidder for this asset until recently, Kommersant has learned. But as usual, it is not prepared to buy at a high price. So if OTP Bank demonstrates insistence, it will get a field for price competition. (Page 8. Sberbank Gets Confronted with Austria-Hungary).
Russia's first holders of the MVNO license may lose them even before they start working. Five companies were expected to launch the MVNO in June and another 15 before the end of the year, among them Vimpelcom and MTT. Setbacks in launching the networks into commercial operation are a reason for revoking the licenses. But virtual operators cannot provide services in the absence of permits from the Mass Media and Communications Ministry. (Page 7. Virtual Operators Silent).