Yesterday we dug up some quotes from Chris Weafer speculating on the Kremlin's "unfinished business" in taking over control of Norilsk Nickel and creating a state-owned mining giant.  Here Mikhail Prokhorov of Onexim Group (and former Norilsk stakeholder) gives his opinion on the possibility of the merger.  Since becoming top dog over the fallen Deripaska, Prokhorov has been on a media blitz lately - see here and here.

Letter from Moscow Moscow’s mild-mannered Swedish investors are mad as hell and are not going to take it any more. Prosperity Capital and East Capital are two of the largest and longest-serving fund managers operating in Russia. The two firms have historically adopted a softly-softly approach to engaging with errant Russian corporates, but those tactics have recently proved as useful as lighting a match in a Siberian snowstorm. Prosperity, whose founders have been investing in Russia since 1992, is warning of another Yukos blow-up occurring because of a major dispute it has with Russia’s wealthiest oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov over the regional power-generating company TGK-4. Prosperity, along with other minority shareholders, took a hit when Prokhorov’s investment holding company Onexim reneged in September on a deal worth close to $1bn to buy back minorities. Prosperity has since been appointed as ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow17 November 2008 Energy company has been hit by governance failingsThe crash in Russian equities has exposed serious risks for minority shareholders, despite an amelioration in the country’s corporate governance over the past few years.The growth of Russian capital markets and the recent boom in initial public offerings has led to an improvement in corporate governance and accounting practices among the blue chips, but violations continue in the small to medium tier. A number of Russian utility companies that were spun off from the electricity monopoly have been particularly affected.A group of 15 minority shareholders in power generator TGK-4 last month wrote to President Dmitry Medvedev claiming Onexim Group, an investment firm owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, had exerted pressure on Russian officials to act in Prokhorov’s interest after Onexim agreed to buy it ...

Russia's stock markets extended losses Tuesday as the Standard & Poors ratings agency revised its long-term outlook on seven Russian banks over liquidity concerns. Eurocement Holding today purchased6.52% of voting shares of Switzerland's Holcim - the world's second largest cement producer - on the open market. The Dubai government's sovereign wealth fund, Dubai World, has pulled out of a $5.3 billion deal to buy control of Russian power firm OGK-1 due to poor market conditions, stated a source. Onexim Group today acquires a 50% stake in Renaissance Capital investment bank for $500 million, director general of the company said yesterday. The president of the company Mikhail Prokhorov stated that Renaissance Capital is planned to become the basis for a global investment bank.