Putin Favors Ruble Traders Over Oil Profits in Battle Against Inflation

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin's
plan to keep inflation from accelerating depends on favoring
foreign-exchange traders over the country's oil and gas
companies.

Putin will probably allow the central bank to double the
ruble's pace of appreciation this year because he has few options
outside the foreign exchange market to rein in consumer prices,
according to strategists at Bank of America Corp. and UBS AG.
Russia's 8.5 percent inflation rate is three times faster than
any other Group of Eight country.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Rexam to buy Russian drinks can maker Rostar

(Reuters) - LONDON, July 4 - British packaging firm Rexam Plc
has agreed to buy Russian drinks can maker Rostar for
149 million pounds in cash, including debt, as
part of a drive to expand in emerging markets.




Rexam, the world's biggest maker of drinks cans, said on
Wednesday it was buying the business from En+ Group Limited, the
parent of Russian aluminium group Rusal.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Aluminum Producer Vimetco Says It Plans Share Sale in London This Month

(Bloomberg) -- Vimetco BV, an aluminum producer
controlled by Russian businessman Vitaliy Machitski, plans to
sell shares this month and list on the London Stock Exchange.

Vimetco's sale of global depositary receipts will be
managed by Morgan Stanley and UniCredit Markets & Investment
Banking, the Amsterdam-based company said today in a statement.
It didn't say how much it plans to raise from the sale.


Read more at Bloomberg Commodities News

GE sees nuclear projects in Europe, China: report

(Reuters) - "First, carbon emissions need to be given a price in some way. If that is done, nuclear power investments will surge everywhere, not just in the United States," Immelt told Kauppalehti in comments published on Tuesday.




Immelt told the paper GE expects nuclear deals from China after five to 10 years, but not so much from Russia unless it was with a Russian partner.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

China, Russia Sovereign Funds Will Buy Corporate Debt, Stocks, Lowery Says

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese and Russian sovereign wealth
funds intend to invest primarily in corporate bonds and stocks,
said Clay Lowery, the U.S. Treasury's top international official,
citing feedback from the governments of both countries.

``When asked about the possibility of foreign direct
investment acquisitions, officials in both countries indicated
that isn't in their current planning,'' Lowery said today in the
text of a speech on sovereign wealth funds in San Francisco.


Read more at Bloomberg Currencies News

Gazprom says on brink of UK deal

(Reuters) - Russian gas giant Gazprom is close to closing a deal to increase its market presence in Britain, Deputy Chief Executive Alexander Medvedev said on Sunday.

"In the near future there will a deal to further increase the customer base on the British market," he told reporters at an economic forum in St Petersburg, without giving details.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Norilsk profit up 154 pct on metals, one-off sale

(Reuters) - Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel and palladium miner, said on Friday 2006 net profit more than doubled on record prices and the sale of a stake in South African miner Gold Fields Ltd..

Norilsk, owned by Russian billionaires Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov, said net profit rose 154 percent last year to $5.965 billion, beating analysts' forecasts.


Read more at Reuters Africa

Stocks in Russia Decline for Second Day, Led by Gazprom, Norilsk Nickel

(Bloomberg) -- Russian stocks declined for a second
day, led by OAO Gazprom and OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel.

The ruble-denominated Micex Index sank 0.4 percent to
1601.43 at 1:26 p.m. in Moscow. Six stocks advanced and 24
retreated. The dollar-denominated RTS Index dropped 0.4 percent
to 1815.70.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Gazprom May Thwart Putin Drive for Russian Dominance in Gas, Oil Output

(Bloomberg) -- Four corporate heavyweights are arrayed
before Russian President Vladimir Putin in his Kremlin office. Sitting
across a white oval table from Putin are Shoei Utsuda and Yorihiko
Kojima, chief executive officers of Japan's largest trading companies,
Mitsui & Co. and Mitsubishi Corp.; Jeroen van der Veer, head of Royal
Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest oil producer; and Putin's old
friend, OAO Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller. The purpose of the Dec. 21,
2006, confab: to seal a deal made earlier that day in which
Gazprom, the giant state-run gas company, will take control of
Sakhalin-2, a $22 billion oil and gas project on Sakhalin Island in
the Russian Far East.

Van der Veer and the Japanese executives make a show of
endorsing Gazprom's participation in Sakhalin-2, until now the
biggest totally foreign-owned energy venture in Russia. ``Thank you
very much for your support on this historic day,'' van der Veer
says to Putin in remarks captured on camera and posted on the
Kremlin's Web site. ``Gazprom is very welcome as a partner in our
project.''


Read more at Bloomberg Exclusive News

Steelmaker Evraz Offers $11.40 a Share for Rest of South Africa's Highveld

(Bloomberg) -- Evraz Group SA, a Russian steelmaker
partly owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, offered about $519
million to buy the shares of Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corp.
Ltd. it doesn't already own.

Evraz will pay $11.40 a share, it said today in a statement
distributed by the Regulatory News Service. Evraz currently
holds about 54 percent of Witbank, South Africa-based Highveld.
The offer for the rest of the stock is mandatory under South
African law, Evraz said. The offer is valid until 5 p.m. South
African time today.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

BP May Lose License to $18 Billion Siberian Gas Field as Putin Cracks Down

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc's Russian venture may lose its
license today to a Siberian field with enough natural gas to
supply Asia for five years as President Vladimir Putin cracks
down on foreign energy projects.

The Natural Resources Ministry's license-revocation
committee should annul BP's permit for the $18 billion Kovykta
field when it meets later today, said Oleg Mitvol, deputy head
of the ministry's environmental inspectorate.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Russian Stocks Erase Advance; Gazprom, Lukoil and Surgut Shares Decline

(Bloomberg) -- Russian stocks pared earlier gains as
OAO Gazprom, OAO Lukoil and OAO Surgutneftegaz declined.

The ruble-denominated Micex Index sank 0.2 percent to
1578.98 rubles at 11:39 a.m. in Moscow. The dollar-denominated
RTS Index dropped 0.4 percent to 1788.03.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

Chrysler wants to boost presence in Russia: report

(Reuters) - Chrysler was currently talking about possible partnerships with Russian companies, the report said.




The U.S. car company is looking for worldwide business opportunities, having been put up for sale by its parent DaimlerChrysler after an unsuccessful nine-year partnership.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News