Russia 110513 Basic Political Developments
Sberbank May Buy BNP Paribas Russia Retail Unit, Kommersant Says
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- Sberbank eyes BNP Paribas Russia retail arm –paper
- Troika Dialog Was Unprofitable in First Half, Vedomosti Reports
- Russian seaports handle 0.7% less cargo in Jan-Apr – ASOP
- Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)
- Russia TNK-BP minority shareholder sues BP –papers
- Russias Surgut proposes flat dividends on 2010
- Gazprom Neft in big profits hike
- Pakistan Seeks Cooperation With Gazprom on Gas Pipleines
- Gazprom faces $8 bln hit from taxes, price curbs
Sberbank May Buy BNP Paribas Russia Retail Unit, Kommersant Sayshttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-13/sberbank-may-buy-bnp-paribas-russia-retail-unit-kommersant-says.html By Marina Sysoyeva - May 13, 2011 6:24 AM GMT+0200 Sberbank is holding talks to acquire BNP Paribas (BNP)’s consumer credit unit in Russia, Kommersant reported, citing officials at Sberbank and in the banking business. The Russian unit, which operates under the name Cetelem, started in 2007 and offers consumer and car loans in retail outlets and credit cards, the newspaper said. BNP Paribas declined to comment, Kommersant said. To contact the reporter on this story: Marina Sysoyeva in Moscow msysoyeva@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
MOSCOW, May 13 (Reuters) - Russia's top lender, state-controlled Sberbank (SBER03.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), is in talks to buy BNP Paribas' (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) Russian retail business, Kommersant business daily reported on Friday, citing two banking sources. Kommersant said France's biggest listed bank is the No.7 player on the Russian retail lending market, working under the Cetelem brand. A Sberbank source confirmed to Kommersant the talks were underway, while BNP Paribas declined to comment. A number of international banks have recently pulled out of Russian retail banking, including Europe's largest bank HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Britain's Barclays (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research). [ID:nLDE73O047] (Reporting by Maria Kiselyova, Editing by Douglas Busvine and Will Waterman)
Troika Dialog, a Russian investment bank, was unprofitable in the six months to end-March, Vedomosti reported today, citing an unidentified person close to the matter. Chairman Ruben Vardanian refrained from giving figures, according to the report. Market volatility and Troika’s forthcoming merger with Sberbank, which distracted employees, were among the reasons for the poor performance, the newspaper cited Vardanian as saying. To contact the reporter on this story: Marina Sysoyeva in Moscow msysoyeva@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
http://www.steelguru.com/raw_material_news/Winsway_Coking_buy_first_Russian_coal_deposit/204994.html Friday, 13 May 2011 Winsway Coking Coal Holdings, a Chinese importer of Mongolian coal listed in Hong Kong, said its holding company agreed to buy a Russian deposit for USD 90 million. The holding company aims to buy 60% of the Apsatskoye steelmaking coal deposit in East Siberia's Zabaikalsky region, about 1,000 kilometers from a rail link between Russia and China. Winsway in a statement said that the deposit has an estimated 675 million tonnes of resources. Natural gas trader Itera bought the right to Apsatskoye in 2008. The statement didn't give details of the remaining 40%. Mr Dmitry Smolin a UralSib Financial analyst in Moscow said that "This could become the first purchase of coal assets in Russia by the Chinese.” He said that Russia may approve the deal as, unlike oil, gas and non-ferrous metals, coal isn't strategic. China is ready to spend as much as USD 6 billion to double coal purchases from Russia to more than 20 million tonnes a year by 2016, the Russian Energy Ministry said in September. (Sourced from Moscow Times)
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110513105947.shtml RBC, 13.05.2011, Moscow 10:59:47.U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley is in talks to buy Moscow's third largest shopping mall Metropolis from property developer Capital Partners, RBC Daily reported today, citing senior executives of three consulting companies. The value of the deal could amount to $1bn. The U.S. bank could buy Metropolis' selling space, which measures 209,000 square meters. The entire shopping and office complex, located on the Leningradskoye Highway, measures 330,000 square meters. It also includes three offices and a parking space. May 13, 2011 11:26
Cf (Our editorial staff can be reached at eng.editors@interfax.ru) Activity in the Oil and Gas sector (including regulatory)Gas Agreement With China Likely by Start of Forumhttp://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/gas-agreement-with-china-likely-by-start-of-forum/436733.html 13 May 2011 By Irina Filatova Russia and China are likely to sign an agreement on natural gas supplies during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, presidential economic aide Arkady Dvorkovich said Thursday. Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation hope to complete talks in the next weeks, he said. Gas is due to start flowing from Russia to China in 2015. "As far as the agreement with China is concerned, the work on it is under way. Of course we would like this work to be completed before the start of the forum," Dvorkovich said at a news conference devoted to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. The two countries have been negotiating the final price of the gas since 2006, with China asking for a discount on the price that Russia charges European countries. Chinese leader Hu Jintao will participate in the forum's opening ceremony together with President Dmitry Medvedev, who will be at the event for three days, from June 16 to June 18. Medvedev will join some sessions and hold bilateral meetings, said the Kremlin adviser, adding that the president will also chair a meeting of the consultative board he created to advise on making Moscow an international financial center. Among other high-ranking guests expected to attend the event are Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Finnish president Tarja Halonen, who also attended the forum in 2009, Dvorkovich said. Last year French President Nicolas Sarkozy attended the forum as a special guest. This year's forum will focus on the new drivers of growth of the global and domestic economy after the financial crisis, said Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina, adding that the event's budget had grown to 880 million rubles ($31 million) — up more than 11 percent from last year. According to Dvorkovich, the results of the Group of Eight summit — which will take place at the end of this month in France — will affect discussions at the forum on the situation in the Middle East, the global commodity market and the development of the Internet. At least one session will be devoted to the $10 billion sovereign fund created by the government to attract direct foreign investment. Details of the fund's strategy and the structure of its supervisory board will be discussed in St. Petersburg, Dvorkovich said. Rosneft Still Weighing Arctic, Swap Deal Before May 16 Deadline on BP Deal http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-13/rosneft-weighing-swap-of-bp-for-local-venture-in-arctic-deal-before-may-16.html By Anna Shiryaevskaya - May 13, 2011 10:03 AM GMT+0200 OAO Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil producer, is still weighing a proposal to replace BP Plc (BP/) with the U.K. company’s local venture in an Arctic exploration deal as a May 16 deadline on a related share swap looms. “The company will make a decision that best meets its shareholders’ interests,” Rustam Kazharov, a spokesman for the Moscow-based Rosneft, said by phone today. “The company wants to take a very balanced approach to making a decision.” He declined to give a timeframe on a decision. BP’s billionaire partners in the TNK-BP oil producer won an injunction in February on the Rosneft alliance, saying their shareholder agreement gives the venture exclusive rights to pursue opportunities for BP in Russia. BP and its partners each own half of TNK-BP, Russia’s third-biggest producer, which accounts for about a quarter of BP’s output and a fifth of reserves. According to a May 6 arbitration decision, BP gained the right to swap 5 percent of its shares for about 9.5 percent of Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil producer, as long as Rosneft agrees to take on TNK-BP as its partner for Kara Sea exploration. To contact the reporter on this story: Anna Shiryaevskaya in Moscow at ashiryaevska@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Will Kennedy at wkennedy3@bloomberg.net Russia TNK-BP minority shareholder sues BP –papershttp://in.reuters.com/article/2011/05/13/bp-russia-idINLDE74C04P20110513 12:51pm IST * TNK-BP shareholder files petition to Siberian court * Intends to sue BP over planned alliance with Rosneft * Petition targets BP representatives on TNK-BP board * Prokhorov estimates damages at $5-$10 billion MOSCOW, May 13 (Reuters) - A minority shareholder in BP's (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Russian venture TNK-BP (TNBP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) intends to sue the British oil major in a Siberian court over its alliance with Rosneft (ROSN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), Russian newspapers reported on Friday. Andrei Prokhorov filed a petition to the Arbitration Court of the Tyumen Region on May 4, Kommersant and Vedomosti said, claiming $5-$10 billion damages for TNK-BP following BP's tie-up with state-run Rosneft for an Arctic exploration project. The petitions were filed days before BP agreed to cede its role in the Arctic pact to TNK-BP, bowing to the demands of a group of billionaire shareholders who had fought a court battle to get a slice of the deal. [ID:nLDE7451OC] Alfa-Access-Renova (AAR), the consortium representing the quartet of billionaires, had objected to the Arctic pact, saying BP was obliged to pursue all its Russian ventures exclusively through TNK-BP. Both BP and AAR declined to comment on the court case on Friday. News of the case came as a May 16 deadline nears for BP and Rosneft to finalise agreement on a share swap that was part of a deal agreed in January to search for oil in the Arctic offshore. BP and AAR reached an arbitration agreement last week that would allow TNK-BP to function as the vehicle for the offshore pact, subject to Rosneft's consent, and allow the share swap to go ahead with restrictions. BP and AAR are 50-50 owners of TNK-BP Ltd, which controls 95 percent of listed unit TNK-BP Holding. The remainder is in free float. (Writing by Maria Kiselyova, Editing by Douglas Busvine and Mike Nesbit)
http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20110513111308.shtml RBC, 13.05.2011, Moscow 11:13:08.Minority shareholders of TNK-BP have filed lawsuits seeking up to $10bn from U.K.-based majority shareholder BP for infringing their interests by entering into a cooperation deal with Rosneft, RBC Daily reported today. Vsevolod Miller, a lawyer from Yukov, Khrenov and Partners law firm, termed such lawsuits as frivolous. They are filed with the purpose of gaining large compensations and winning popularity. Only direct damages could be awarded and neither the minority shareholders of TNK-BP nor Russian consortium AAR, a majority shareholder, incurred direct damages from the BP-Rosneft deal. TNK-BP shareholders prepare $5-10 bn BP suit http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hCXZuW3KWfPd1Uo3TIIcztQYZOmw?docId=CNG.4232f6ae19eb54c58c9d35b7f0b4995b.6b1 (AFP) – 12 hours ago MOSCOW — A shareholder of BP's Russian joint venture said Thursday said he had filed papers in preparation for a suit seeking up to $10 billion in damages from the British giant over its proposed tie-up with Rosneft. The news came as BP counts down the hours to a Monday deadline to complete a historic Russian alliance that could either help reverse the company's flagging fortune or deliver another painful blow to its chief Bob Dudley. Russia's Supreme Arbitration Court website said that TNK-BP shareholder Andrei Porkhorov's papers were filed in the western Siberian region of Tyumen on May 4. A court official told Interfax that Prokhorov planned to seek $5-10 billion in damages from two divisions of BP but that his initial request to get access to the company's computer data had been denied. Court records showed that separate papers were filed by Prokhorov and others against Peter Charow and Richard Scott Sloan -- BP's regional director for Russia and TNK-BP chairman of the board. Prokhorov told Dow Jones Newswires said his rights as a shareholder were "violated by TNK-BP and BP". He added that a formal suit had not yet been filed but that "we're considering it". BP has until Monday to complete a $16 billion share-swap agreement with Rosneft that had initially also been due to include a deal to jointly develop Arctic oil reserves controlled by the Russian firm. The Russian partners in the TNK-BP joint venture managed to block the Arctic portion of the agreement in court by arguing that it broke their shareholder agreement. They also threatened to sue BP for damages after an arbitration panel ruled that TNK-BP had the right of first refusal on all of the BP's Russian projects. BP had been planning to use TNK-BP dividend payments to finance the Arctic exploration work. A revised deal negotiated under arbitration and announced by BP last week will potentially allow TNK-BP to take its parent company's place in the exploration project. But Russia's state-controlled Rosneft has previously refused to work jointly with the local venture because of its relative inexperience and lack of access to international markets and deposits. Rosneft has not commented on the terms of the revised deal.
YEKATERINBURG, Russia, May 13 (Reuters) - Surgut (SNGS.MM: Quote, Profile, Research), Russia's fourth largest oil producer, said its board had recommended to pay nearly same amount in dividends from 2010 net profit as on 2009. The board has recommended a dividend of 1.18 roubles ($0.042) per one preferred share and 0.5 roubles per one ordinary share, the company said in a statement. It paid a 1.0488 rouble dividend on preferred shares and 0.45 roubles on ordinary stock from 2009 profits. [ID:nLDE64G0QP] (Reporting by Natalya Shurmina; writing by Maria Kiselyova; editing by Andrey Ostroukh) GazpromGazprom Neft in big profits hikehttp://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article256119.ece Russia’s Gazprom Neft lifted its first-quarter net profit by 91% year-on-year to $1.437 billion, beating analysts' expectations thanks to better refining data. News wires 12 May 2011 12:49 GMT Analysts, polled by Reuters, expected net income to rise to $1.176 billion. The fifth-ranked Russian producer also said its January-March 2011 revenues increased by 35% to $9.865 billion on the back of rising crude prices, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 56% at $2.467 billion. "EBITDA growth was driven by an increase in refining throughput - an increase of 5.2% - as well as higher revenue from petroleum products sales in the domestic market," the company said in a statement, adding that the rise was tempered by higher taxes and tariffs. Gazprom Neft, the oil producing unit of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, said its hydrocarbon production increased by 7.6% in the first quarter. The company aims boost its oil output by 2020 to 100 million tonnes (745 million barrels) from about 60 million tonnes (450 million barrels) at present. The company also agreed in April on a five-year $600 million club loan at Liobr +1.5%. At 09:25 GMT, Moscow-traded shares in Gazprom Neft fell almost 4%, underperforming a 1.6% decline in the broader market . Published: 12 May 2011 12:49 GMT | Last updated: 12 May 2011 12:50 GMT 13.05.2011
Prime Minister’s Adviser on Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain, who is accompanying the president, will brief the Russians about progress on the gas pipeline projects. Secretary Petroleum Ijaz Chaudhry said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on energy cooperation with Russia would also be signed to engage Russian companies in oil and gas exploration in Pakistan. Gazprom had shown interest in building energy storage facilities in Pakistan. During a meeting of the Pak-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission held in September last year in Russia, Pakistan had invited Gazprom to lay a pipeline for the IP gas project. Copyright 2011, The Express Tribune. All rights reserved. Gazprom faces $8 bln hit from taxes, price curbshttp://in.reuters.com/article/2011/05/12/gazprom-taxes-idINLDE74B16G20110512 Thu, May 12 2011 * Gas sector faces 150 billion rouble tax hit * Lower tariffs growth to cost Gazprom 73 billion roubles * Analysts see risk to investment case for gas sector By Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW, May 12 (Reuters) - Russia, looking for new revenue sources and keen to curb inflation before elections, plans to hit Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) with a double whammy of a tax increase and a lower gas tariff rise that would cost the company $8 billion. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is considering running in the 2012 presidential election, told his government last month to consider scaling back planned increases in regulated tariffs for household utilities like gas and electricity. The move was mainly aimed at Gazprom, which was to have been granted a 15 percent increase in domestic gas prices in 2012. Now the government wants to peg tariffs to inflation, which it targets at 5-6 percent next year. "If tariffs are tied to inflation, Gazprom may lose 73 billion roubles ($2.6 billion) in 2012," Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina told reporters on Thursday, expressing concern that the cost could affect Gazprom's investment plans. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin also plans to hike mineral extraction tax (MET) on gas from 2012 -- after it was increased by 61 percent this year -- and introduce more export fees. These measures would cost Gazprom, the state-controlled export monopoly that accounts for nearly 80 percent of Russian gas production, and the rest of the industry an additional 150 billion roubles ($5.4 billion). Together with restraining tariff growth that would cost as much as $8 billion next year -- equivalent to nearly a quarter of its 2010 earnings. INVESTMENT CASE Gazprom sells 40 percent of its output in Russia and charges industrial consumers $103 per thousand cubic metres (tcm), while households pay less. That compares with an average export price of $346 to Europe in the first quarter. CEO Alexei Miller has forecast that export prices, which are linked to oil with a six- to nine-month lag, will reach $500 per tcm by the fourth quarter. While export prices fluctuate with oil, it has been planned growth in domestic prices that has underpinned the investment case for Gazprom, which forecast earlier this year it would add $24 billion to revenues between 2011 and 2013. Gazprom posted earnings of 968.6 billion roubles ($34.6 billion) last year on sales of 2.99 trillion roubles. Export sales declined 1 percent to 1.1 trillion roubles as it faced lower-cost competition from liquefied natural gas. "In effect, a lower-than-planned hike in gas tariffs would destroy the investment case for the gas sector in Russia in the short term," Troika Dialog brokerage said in a note. Gazprom shares fell by 3.6 percent in Moscow to 203 roubles at 1400 GMT, outpacing a decline by the MICEX index .MCX of 2 percent. The stock has fallen by 18 percent from its high for the year on April 11. The oil and gas sector accounts for more than half of federal budget revenues, but gas production is subject to a much lower effective rate of mineral extraction tax than crude oil. The state has been increasing pressure on the energy sector in the run-up to parliamentary election in December and the presidential poll in March, abolishing tax breaks on new oil fields to help fund increased spending in the 2012 fiscal year. In February, Putin ordered a restriction on price rises at filling stations across the country, in one of a series of administrative measures aimed at curbing inflation then on the brink of double digits. The price curbs led refiners to boost exports, causing fuel shortages in some regions that forced the government to hike gasoline export duty in May. Nabiullina said the higher duty could be extended to June. (Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya; editing by David Cowell)
http://www.bne.eu/dispatch_text15164 VTB Capital May 13, 2011 News: Gazprom has disclosed construction cost data for the company's major pipeline projects, Bovanenkovo-Ukhta and Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok. The official estimates exceed our expectations by a significant margin. According to the company, the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta pipeline (to be constructed in 2007-15) will be worth almost RUB 1tn (USD 40bn) in 2008 prices, which translates into as much as USD 18mn/km. Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok, on which construction is due to end by 2020, is likely to be worth around USD 15bn (USD 8.7mn/km). These projects are the most capital intense ones, both historically and compared with similar projects elsewhere. Our View: The reported numbers suggest more room for capex inflation, supporting our earlier argument that Gazprom will come up with increased capex estimates later this year. We view this as a negative development, which somewhat offsets our bullish stance on the European gas market d ynamics this year. We currently estimate Gazprom's capex at just over USD 30bn in 2011, but further management decisions this year could prompt us to review both our capex estimates and FCF assumptions. Along with continuing taxation concerns, this latest news undermines near-term sentiment in the stock. Yüklə 140,38 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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