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	<title>Stock Market News &#38; Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks &#187; Rusal;</title>
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		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; March 17, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-march-17-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-march-17-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Mar 2010 09:15:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Belarus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[comparison]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Customs Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deputy Prime Minister]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exorbitant costs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fivefold increase]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[January;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kaliningrad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kazakhstan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mass protest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ruble]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sensitive goods]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sergei Ivanov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[year]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.23168</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        Russia's economy could grow faster than expected this year; by as much as 4-4.5% in comparison with predictions of 3-3.5%.&#160; See Bloomberg for Russia's three-pronged strategy to facilitate the economic recovery, currently jeopardized by th...]]></description>
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		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211;  Feb 24, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-feb-24-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-feb-24-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:19:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aluminium Production]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civic initiatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[current economic situation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Development]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[development ministry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[human trafficking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ministry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulatory functions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[state corporations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[State;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.23051</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        The Economic Development Ministry has a plan to reform Russia's state corporations, which have both commercial and regulatory functions, and are set to become extinct in this current form by 2015. &#160;The 'Innovation Delegation' from the US ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-feb-24-2010/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211;  Feb 19, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-feb-19-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-feb-19-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:33:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ashton Kutcher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[criminal proceedings]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Decline]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Innovation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[interest rate cuts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[January;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[monopoly service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow Times]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Times;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traffic delays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[VimpelCom]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.23037</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        On the decline of Rusal's shares following its January IPO. &#160;Efforts by the 'Innovation Delegation' of officials and executives from the US to meet with Russian officials have suffered traffic delays and scheduling problems. &#160;The New...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-feb-19-2010/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211;  Feb 18, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-feb-18-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-feb-18-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:01:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[civic issues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dmitry Medvedev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ebay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[global practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hollywood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hong Kong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Innovation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investment guidelines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kremlin;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Len Blavatnik]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rags to riches]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[week]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[year]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.23030</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        The Kremlin is hosting a week of meetings focused on 'innovation', with guests from Hollywood, the White House, and 'internet powerhouses' Twitter and eBay, all gathering to discuss social media and civic issues. &#160;Dmitry Medvedev wants Ru...]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; Jan 28, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-28-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-28-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:09:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexander Lebedev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Article;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deputy Chief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deputy Prime Minister]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hong Kong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ilyushin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[russian banks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[steep rise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[telegraph reports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[unemployment statistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[York]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22925</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        An article in the New York Times examines the Rusal IPO as part of Russia's increasing interest in the Chinese market.&#160; Rusal claims it receives 'a call a week' from Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakh companies who wish to follow suit and list...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-28-2010/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; Jan 25, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-25-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-25-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:50:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[appreciation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boris Berezovsky;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[food venture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fund]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guinea]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hong Kong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Imf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Initial Public Offering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Italy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kazakhstan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Libya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow court]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow Times]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rapid gains]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[turkish airlines]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22897</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        The IMF has predicted the steep appreciation of the ruble; just as the Central Bank is trying to put the brakes on its rapid gains.&#160; Russia's development bank VEB and Libya's sovereign fund have apparently bought the most shares in United...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-25-2010/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211;  Jan 22, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-22-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-22-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:45:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Burger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hong kong ipo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investor Confidence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[king]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kong;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mikhail Gutseriyev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[russian company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russian Technologies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[russian trade]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sberbank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trade ties]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22888</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        Burger King has arrived in Russia. &#160;RusAl's Hong Kong IPO - the first of its kind for a Russian company - has raised $2.2 billion, a strong show of investor confidence. &#160;The cash will in part go towards clearing some of RusAl's $16.8...]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211;  Jan 18, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-18-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-18-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:32:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cybersquatter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EDITION]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fighter jets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forbes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Forbes Magazine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[India]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ingosstrakh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Investigative committee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lawsuit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[magazine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oleg Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sun Microsystems]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22857</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        The Russian edition of Forbes magazine has won a lawsuit against a 'cybersquatter' for use of the domain name Forbes.ru. &#160;A senior investigator in the Investigative Committee was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of soliciting a $15 ...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-jan-18-2010/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Did Oleg Deripaska Really Order the Murder of a Journalist?</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/did-oleg-deripaska-really-order-the-murder-of-a-journalist/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/did-oleg-deripaska-really-order-the-murder-of-a-journalist/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:12:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Investing Lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anna Politkovskaya]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Article;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assassination]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[australian article]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Captain Oblivious]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dave D'Alessandro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dmitry Medvedev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[editorial tone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hong Kong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hong kong ipo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ivan Safronov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Helmer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Journalist]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Matt Taibi]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michael Cherney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mikhail Prokhorov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[news]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[niche audience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NJ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oleg Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paul Klebnikov;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.K.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vladimir putin]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22817</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        I first saw the news come across my alerts around the New Year that three men had been arrested by the Russian police for the attempted murder of the journalist John Helmer.&#160; The story was broken on Jan. 2 by a South African outlet called...]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/did-oleg-deripaska-really-order-the-murder-of-a-journalist/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; Jan 12, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-jan-12-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-jan-12-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:09:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Investing Lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[base salary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chief Executive Officer Oleg Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Day;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economic climate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hong Kong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Initial Public Offering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[long holidays]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow Times]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oleg Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[President Medvedev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Prime Minister Putin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Times;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wage arrears]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22799</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        On its first day of trading in 2010, the ruble strengthened the most in more than ten years against the dollar and the MICEX soared as oil reached $83 a barrel.&#160; The New York Times suggests that the boom can be partly attributed to the lo...]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; Jan 7, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-jan-7-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-jan-7-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:53:56 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Investing Lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bernie Madoff;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[December;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[donbas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gdp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Group;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hong Kong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metals group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roman Abramovich]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[steel group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usmanov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wall street]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wall Street Journal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22746</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        In December, Russia's GDP shrunk at the slowest pace in a year - at just 1.3% in comparison to 2.5% in November.&#160; An unnamed Russian company is near to gaining control of a Ukrainian steel group, the Industrial Union of Donbas.&#160; In t...]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Kremlin Policy and Russian Business Fused at the Hip</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/kremlin-policy-and-russian-business-fused-at-the-hip/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/kremlin-policy-and-russian-business-fused-at-the-hip/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Investing Lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexander Kolyandr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[business delegation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[conflicts of interest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dmitry Medvedev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Greg White;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hong Kong]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ipo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mr. Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mr. Putin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oleg Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[political loyalty]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Political Opponents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[russian citizens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sochi;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[State;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wall street]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wall Street Journal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winter Olympics;]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22742</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        If you haven't yet had a chance to read Greg White and Alexander Kolyandr's sprawling and informative article on billionaire Oleg Deripaska in today's Wall Street Journal, I really recommend taking the time to do so.&#160; There's quite a lot ...]]></description>
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		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; Jan 4, 2010</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-jan-4-2010/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-jan-4-2010/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:57:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Investing Lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[french chalet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[future]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guess]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ipo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mikhail Prokhorov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poultry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poultry farmers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RIA Novosti]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[russian economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spelling problems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wall street]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wall Street Journal]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2010://1.22696</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
         'To forecast the future of the Russian economy, one must make a guess at its progress toward becoming a nation under law': the Wall Street Journal on investment risks in Russia.&#160; Apparently Russia's manufacturing contraction worsened las...]]></description>
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		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; Dec 29, 2009</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-dec-29-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-dec-29-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Dec 2009 09:47:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Investing Lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Debt]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hong kong ipo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ipo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow Times]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nathaniel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nathaniel Rothschild]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nbsp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New York]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oleg Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[private investment company]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Robert Kuok]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shipbuilding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Shipbuilding Yards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vladimir putin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wall street]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2009://1.22666</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
        Vladimir Putin has declared that $700 million will be pumped into upgrading two shipbuilding yards in an undertaking with foreign partners.&#160; The Prime Minister also announced that the government has a $5 billion project for buying up civi...]]></description>
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		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211;  Nov 6, 2009</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-nov-6-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-lessons/today-in-russian-business-nov-6-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:41:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Investing Lessons]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexei Kudrin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[AvtoVAZ]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Coca Cola]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Finance Minister]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mikhail Prokhorov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Renault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[risk insurance premiums]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USD]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2009://1.22055</guid>
		<description><![CDATA['We will have to take into account this style of dealing with partners in the future, though this scornful approach toward partners mainly affects the Europeans, not us':&#160; Putin reacts to the aborted GM deal. &#160; Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin...]]></description>
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		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; May 4, 2009</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-may-4-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-may-4-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2009 08:50:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Canada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[communications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dmitry Kozak;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dmitry Medvedev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Information Technology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mobile TeleSystems]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Norilsk Nickel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reuters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ukraine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[undeveloped internet industry;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viktor Vekselberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vneshekonombank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web connections;]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2009://1.18592</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[According to a Reuters poll, analysts have suggested that GDP will drop by 4.7% this year and growth is unlikely to return by the end of the year.&#160; Dmitry Medvedev has pledged to increase social spending in some areas in...]]></description>
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		<title>Energy Blast &#8211; April 22, 2009</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/energy-blast-april-22-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/energy-blast-april-22-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:38:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andris Piebalgs;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bloomberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Boguchansk electricity plant;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[China]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[credible supplier;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[electricity plant]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[energy suppliers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[exxon mobil corp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hungary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hungary's Energy Office;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[natural gas exports;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Norway]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[offshore oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[overseas oil exploration;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reuters]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richard Morningstar;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Royal Dutch Shell plc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russky Island]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TNK-BP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ukraine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zhaikmunai;]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2009://1.18474</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[To derail European attempts to diversify energy suppliers, Russia would need to purchase all natural gas exports of its Caspian neighbors, Bloomberg reports.&#160; Russia is set to build a wind farm on Russky Island by 2012.&#160; Rushydro should come to...]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
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		<title>Today in Russian Business &#8211; April 13, 2009</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-april-13-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/today-in-russian-business-april-13-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:19:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Robert Amsterdam</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Market Commentary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alrosa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Big Ussuri Island bridge;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Big Ussuri Island;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bulgartabac;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diamond producer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dynamo 
football 
club;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial-Organisational Consulting;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[former Soviet Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friguia;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guinean Justice Ministry;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Norilsk Nickel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sberbank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Soviet Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tobacco maker;]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:www.robertamsterdam.com,2009://1.18359</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The ruble has reached its highest level in two and a half months against its basket currency.&#160; Sberbank CEO German Gref says that Russia will see a 'certain stabilization this March-April'.&#160; VTB is to take a 75% minus one share...]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Russia Heading Towards The Abyss?</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-europe/russia-heading-towards-the-abyss/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-europe/russia-heading-towards-the-abyss/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:07:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Manuel Alvarez-Rivera</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[//blockquotep/pblockquoteDanske Bank;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[a lot of concern]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexei Kudrin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alfa;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aluminium group;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bank bail-outs;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bank loans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[big state-controlled banks;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blockquoteBank;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bloomberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[central bank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dmitry Medvedev]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Eastern Europe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eastern europe economy watch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[electricity groups;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EUR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Evgeny Gavrilenkov;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal Security Service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[foreign banks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gas Monopoly]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gazprom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gbp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[huge savings bank;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Igor Shuvalov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ING Groep NV]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Lars Christensen]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[MDM Bank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[metal combine;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Natalia Orlova;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[non-government bank]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Oil Prices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oleg Deripaska]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oleg Vyugin;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[oligarch-led groups;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Policy makers]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[RUB]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sampo Bank Plc;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sberbank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stanislav Ponomarenko;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Svetlana Aslanova;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troika Dialog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Unicredit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Urals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vladimir Osakovsky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vladimir putin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[VTB Capital;]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443720106009957151.post-1690349098087008883</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[blockquote“A significant amount, if not all, of the speculative attacks on the ruble are funded by the central bank itself,” said Vladimir Osakovsky, Moscow-based economist for UniCredit/blockquotepThe underlying dynamics of the current ruble devaluation are provoking more than a little consternation in Russia at the moment. In the forefront of the debate are data from Bank Rossii (the central bank)  which show they lent 7.7 trillion rubles ($214 billion) in overnight and seven-day loans (secured with bonds or other collateral) in just 16 trading days last month - this was about double the 4.8 trillion rubles provided via so-called repurchase auctions in December. Over the same period the ruble lost 18 percent against the dollar. The question is, is there a connection here?/ppRussia's banking authorities now certainly seem to think there is and Kommersant reported (Friday) that policy makers planned to reduce bank loans in an attempt to limit bets on the ongoing ruble devaluation. As a result the ruble remained safely within the target band all day Friday, and there was no need for any kind of intervention./pp/ppThe decision follows several days of severe criticism over the way in which Russian banks appeared to be using the loans being made available to them. Oleg Vyugin, former deputy central banker and currently chairman of MDM Bank has suggested that Russia's banks have now accumulated about $40bn in hard currency deposited for their clients on accounts with the central bank and another $40bn on accounts held with foreign banks. /pblockquotePolicy makers lifted the rate on overnight and seven-day loans obtained through the auctions by 1 percentage point to 11 percent this week, the highest since at least November 2007. Banks used “almost all” the money from loan auctions to bet against the ruble, Natalia Orlova chief economist at Alfa, Russia’s largest non-government bank, said. Policy makers “have basically fueled the speculation on the ruble themselves.....The market is intent on testing the central bank’s ability to spend reserves and they’re going to really have to tighten liquidity, or something, if they want to have a hope against that.” /blockquote!--more--br /br /blockquote“If they really wanted to stop speculation, they have to raise the rates significantly, say to 20 or 30 percent, for a short period of time,” said Evgeny Gavrilenkov, chief economist at Moscow-based brokerage Troika Dialog. “One day they have to say: Give me my money back, no more repo is available.” “They have to raise interest rates if they want to stop speculation.....But there is still a lot of concern among the authorities that the banking sector might collapse.”/blockquotebr /br /According a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601095amp;sid=aqpJfhFF6fZ0amp;refer=east_europe"to Bloomberg/a, Russia's banks bid for 505 billion rubles in repo auctions on Thursday, more than the 402 billion rubles actually lent. Banks also requested 139 billion rubles in an auction of unsecured loans on 3 February, about six times the 23.5 billion rubles provided. The possibility of obtaining such loans was opened up to over 100 Russian banks in November as part of a plan to boost liquidity amid the seizure in global credit markets. The extra funding has helped lower the average interest rate banks charge each other for overnight loans, known as the MosPrime rate, to 10.83 percent on Wednesday from a record 25.17 percent on Jan. 27.br /blockquoteBank Rossii may send representatives to individual banks to check on their foreign-currency holdings, said Stanislav Ponomarenko, chief economist in Moscow at ING Groep NV. President Dmitry Medvedev told the Federal Security Service, Russia’s spy agency, to monitor the allocation of state funds on Jan. 29, saying it is “doubly criminal” for investors to get rich off the crisis./blockquotepbr /strongVTB GDP Indicator Shows Severe Contraction/strongbr //ppIn any event, while a lot of people in the Russian establishment seem busy trying to decide which side they are batting for in all this, a Russian economy which is basically being starved of liquidity is now spirally downwards and downwards. The most recent piece of evidence for this comes from the latest reading on VTB’s Russian GDP Indicator which showed that economic output contracted at a year on year rate of 4 percent in January, down from December’s 1.1 percent decline, and November's 2.1 percent expansion.br /br //ppa href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYrQqqST3oI/AAAAAAAAMko/mdVbzUd4Lmo/s1600-h/russia+gdp2.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299277342878981762" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 244px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYrQqqST3oI/AAAAAAAAMko/mdVbzUd4Lmo/s400/russia+gdp2.png" border="0" //abr /br /According to Russian economy Ministry estimates the economy will contract by only 0.2 percent this year after expanding 5.6 percent in 2008, so this estimate now seems hopelessly out of date. If we look at the monthly contraction rate as a reflection of the current quarter on quarter contraction, we find a rate of minus 1.6%, which means that the present rate is something like a 6.5% annualised shrinkage rate. At present this is stationary and not accelerating, but it is quite strong, especially for an economy which only six months ago was expanding at a 6.5% annualised rate.br /br /a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYrQX0URIrI/AAAAAAAAMkg/pPq0d0ZpbNY/s1600-h/russia+GDP.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299277019154031282" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 245px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYrQX0URIrI/AAAAAAAAMkg/pPq0d0ZpbNY/s400/russia+GDP.png" border="0" //a /pbr /br /pstrongServices Contract But Less Strongly Than Manufacturingbr //strongbr /Russia's services industries are still not contracting as fast as the manufacturing sector (34.4), but with the Russian economy shedding 800,000 jobs in December the outlook for improvement is not exactly bright. The PMI reading was little changed - and close to December's all-time low rising to 36.8 in January from 36.4 the previous month. Since a reading over 50 indicates expansion, and below 50 a contraction, this is still a pretty hefty rate of shrinkage. /pa href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYrQ5M1tiwI/AAAAAAAAMkw/OVzMDbtLzZg/s1600-h/russia+services+PMI.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5299277592672439042" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 243px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYrQ5M1tiwI/AAAAAAAAMkw/OVzMDbtLzZg/s400/russia+services+PMI.png" border="0" //abr /br /Meantime retail sales grew at the slowest annual pace in nine years in December while disposable incomes fell 11.6 percent.br /br /br /blockquote“Business activity and incoming new business contracted further to record lows due to still weak demand,” said Svetlana Aslanova, senior corporate analyst at VTB Capital, in the report. “Low levels of workloads have forced companies to cut costs” resulting in jobs cuts, she added.br //blockquotebr /pbr /strongNew Policies From The Administration?/strong/ppWith declining reserves in the background, and oil prices which may well not rebound very much this year to concentrate their minds, the Russia adminstration indicated on Wednesday that it was about to make a significant change in the policies it is deploying to fight the financial crisis. The move basically involves  switching from bailing out individual companies to attempting to directly support the economy through the banking sector. At the same time Moscow is planning large budget cuts in an attempt to limit the fiscal deficit since letting it run too high threatens to eat up Reserve Fund resources far too quickly if oil prices remain low for any length of time. The general impression is that the administration has now lost hope it can avoid the crisis simply by increasing public spending and is instead digging in deep in an attempt to endure what might turn out to be a rather prolonged recession.br /br /The policy change was announced by Igor Shuvalov, Russia's first deputy prime minister, who stressed the government was deliberately choosing to allow gross domestic product growth to fall to zero or below in 2009 to stabilise the economy and maintain foreign exchange reserves. He was thus explicitly rejecting the advice of those economists who had suggested using the reserves to finance a budget deficit of 10 per cent of GDP to promote growth. Of course the risk here is that this will produce a much stronger GDP contraction with unknown social consequences./ppShuvalov also indicated the government would invest “several percentage points of GDP” in strengthening the banking sector, covering “possible future losses” and supervising a consolidation plan that would see the number of banks cut from 1,100 to 500. Alexei Kudrin, the finance minister, confirmed during a visit to London that the state was preparing to inject $40bn (€31bn, £28bn) capital into banks provided that the money was channelled into the real economy. This would follow last year’s Rbs960bn package of subordinated loans.br /br /Shuvalov indicated some key industrial companies would continue to get priority, headed by military enterprises, Gazprom, the gas monopoly, electricity groups and the state railways. This is a far more tightly focused target than the previously announced list of 295 industrial companies deemed worthy of financial support that included oligarch-led groups such as Rusal, the aluminium company, and Norilsk Nickel, the metal combine. Shuvalov suggested that the state should not have lent $4.5bn to Rusal, Oleg Deripaska’s aluminium group, on the security of its 25 per cent stake in Norilsk Nickel, the metals company, when it was clear these shares were worth only $1.5bn. /ppIn line with the change in policy Vladimir Putin gave the go ahead on Thursday for a second wave of bank bail-outs to extend up to Rbs1,000bn ($28b) in order to refinance the banking sector with new capital and subordinated debt in an effort to transfer the burden for bailing out companies on to commercial banks. Of the three big state-controlled banks, VTB is to receive Rbs200bn in new capital, state-owned VEB is to receive Rbs100bn in capital and Rbs100bn in subordinated debt, and Sberbank, the huge savings bank, may receive funding in the region of Rbs500bn./ppThe moves will increase the state’s stakes in these three banks, boosting its role in the Russian economy. The state’s stake in the three banks are Sberbank 61 per cent, VTB 77.5 per cent and 100 per cent VEB. Vladimir Putin said Moscow could also inject up to 100bn roubles in subordinated loans – Tier 2 capital under international banking rules – into private banks but said the government would not seek stakes in return.br //pblockquoteAndrei Sharonov, a former deputy economy minister, who now works asbr /managing director of Troika Dialog, the Moscow investment bank, said the secondbr /bail-out of the banking system was part of an effort to switch the governmentbr /anti-crisis programme to the banking system instead of bailing out individualbr /companies, which must repay some $140bn in foreign debts this year.br //blockquotep/pblockquoteDanske Bank A/S, which ranks itself among the five biggest traders of the rublebr /through Finnish subsidiary Sampo Bank Plc, said yesterday the ruble will bebr /allowed to trade freely “within weeks,” because pressure on the currency won’tbr /abate after the decline in oil prices, according to Lars Christensen, Danske’sbr /head of emerging -markets strategy. Urals crude, Russia’s chief export blend,br /has fallen 70 percent to $43.01 a barrel since reaching a record in July, belowbr /the $70 average required to balance the government’s 2009 budget. Energybr /accounts for more than 70 percent of Russia’s exports./blockquote]]></description>
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		<title>The Ruble Fall Continues As Unemployment Soars</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/the-ruble-fall-continues-as-unemployment-soars/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/the-ruble-fall-continues-as-unemployment-soars/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 01 Feb 2009 07:32:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Edward Hugh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Economics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[/blockquotepCurrent government;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[/blockquotepRussia's Reserve Fund;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[/blockquoteThe Central Bank;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Alexei Kudrin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[average oil price;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bank data;]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[bloomberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bnp Paribas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[by-product]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[citgroup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Citibank Russia;]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Danske Bank A/S]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Davos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy Ministry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elina Ribakova]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[finance ministry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[food]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaelle Blanchard;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gdp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Igor Shuvalov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ING Groep NV]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intelligence Unit;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interfax]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Lars Rassmussen;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[London]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MDM Bank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mikhail Prokhorov]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moscow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Wealth Fund]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nikolai Kashcheev;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nizhny Novgorod;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OAO GAZ;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OAO Norilsk Nickel;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil Exports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[oil price drops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oil Prices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[oil prices./ppSo;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reserve Fund]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RUB]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ruble oil-fund;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rusal;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russian Federal State Statistics Service;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russian State Duma;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russian;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sergei Ignatyev;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Societe Generale SA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stabilization Fund;]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[State Duma]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The central bank]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United Co.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Urals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[USD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viktor Vekselberg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vladimir putin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vnesheconombank]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7303901362201842397.post-6605010995265322812</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Russia's current woes can be readily summed up in just one single variable - the value of the ruble - and this value, as we all know, is falling. Almost uncontrollably so.br /br /blockquoteThe bank’s target will be “very quickly” breached without more intervention, said Gaelle Blanchard of Societe Generale SA in London. “Right now the market is convinced it wants to see the ruble lower,” Blanchard said. “As long as the central bank gives these targets, then speculators are going to have something to aim for.”br /br //blockquoteblockquote“The market is testing whether the authorities see this band as something permanent or something that will move,” said Lars Rassmussen, an emerging markets analyst at Danske Bank A/S. “Our view is that they’ll move it because it’s not worth wasting the reserves for a band that is obviously not wide enough.”/blockquoteblockquoteFirst Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov expressed regret that the general population failed to fully understand the Central Bank’s policy on the ruble’s exchange rate against the dollar/euro basket. The government did let the ruble depreciate, but it did so gradually, providing plenty of time for people to decide which currency to keep their savings in. /blockquote br /a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYW5pJ24U5I/AAAAAAAAMe8/T2w5hE6yTnY/s1600-h/ruble.png"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 236px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYW5pJ24U5I/AAAAAAAAMe8/T2w5hE6yTnY/s400/ruble.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297844653343134610" //abr /br /br /In fact the ruble fell sharply again last Friday, and was on the brink of breaching the target trading band, yet one more time, following its biggest monthly depreciation in more than a decade. The ruble was down at one point by as much as 1.4 percent on the day (to 35.59 per dollar), 1.1 percent away from breaking the 36 per dollar limit. The Russian central bank has now expanded its trading range 20 times since mid-November in a series of attempts to defend the currency. These continuing attempts to hold a line have lead the central bank to use up more than a third of its foreign-currency reserves since last August, a period in which the ruble has fallen some 34 percent slide against the dollar.br /br /The ruble has now depreciated by 20 percent since the start of the year - making January already the worst month for the currency since 1998. And there is obviously more to come, with the government now expecting a decline to 36 per dollar following the latest widening in the trading band, according to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov speaking in the State Duma last week. This "managed devaluation" is seen as an attempt to avoid a reapeat of what happened back in 1998, when the ruble fell by as much as 29 percent in a single day. Yet the currency has now lost over 30% against the dollar (and weakened substantially against the euro) since last summer and all this spells disaster for domestic banks and industrial companies, whose debt is denominated in dollars and euros but who depended on rouble-denominated revenues.br /br /One of the principal problems facing those banks and companies who have this mismatch if that they have insufficient foreign exchange liquidity, while other parts of the banking and corporate sector are better positioned. That is the aggregate external position understates the extent of the problem, since the lack of internal confidence makes it hard for those who are under severe stress to find the appropriate lenders. In part as a an attempt at a solution to this problem state owned investment bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) is preparing to issue foreign-currency bonds to be placed among Russian banks with excess of foreign currency and then redistribute the currency raised to those in need of foreign currency liquidity. During the last quarter of 2008 the net increase in foreign currency assets in the corporate sector was over $100 bln. According to the central bank external corporate debt redemptions totaling $120 bln are anticpated during 2009, which indicates a shortfall of only $20 billion, yet according to Interfax the total volume of applications for fx support to VEB from Russian companies is $80 bln. Which suggests that a sizeable chunk of the $100 bln accumulated by Russian corporates at the end of last year was not intended for foreign-currency debt redemptions but was instead a means a protecting free liquidity from falling in value. That is they converted their liquidity into USD and Euro to avoid losses (or make gains) from the devaluation.br /br /br /strongInflation Always Carries A Price/strongbr /br /The root of Russia's most recent problems is very evidently all that excess inflation which Russia has seen over the last 18 months (if it hadn't been for the inflation there would have been no devaluation, and hence no issue with forex loans), inflation which has taken badly needed competitiveness from Russia's manufacturing industry at a time when the oil and commodity sectors are in the grips of a severe price slump (which means their contribution to the economy is greatly reduced).br /br /Obviously Russia's situation doesn't make for any easy answers, and even devaluation brings with it the problem of the attendant inflationary uptick from imported goods. Russia's month on month inflation is expected to reach 2.4 percent in January 2009, according to the latest estimates from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), and the Economy Ministry currently estimates Russia's whole year inflation could be as high as 13 percent in 2009. In fact the annual rate for last December was 13.3% (see chart below), so they seem to anticipate very little change in the situation. In fact they may be unduly pessimistic here, since they are almost certainly underestimating the force of Russia's current economic contraction, and the collapse in internal demand may well bring Russia's inflation down more rapidly than they are expecting.br /br /a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYVcvy7mmtI/AAAAAAAAMeU/sgjSJ5NCwdc/s1600-h/russia+CPI.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297742512866630354" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 237px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYVcvy7mmtI/AAAAAAAAMeU/sgjSJ5NCwdc/s400/russia+CPI.png" border="0" //abr /br /br /strongMonetary Tightening In The Face Of An Economic Slump/strongbr /br /Basically the Russian economy is currently suffering the effects of a long term policy of trying to control the currency value at the same time as being "soft" on inflation. This approach evidently hasn't worked out, and it is to be hoped that some lessons for the future may have been learned, but the sorry reality is that those currently responsible for managing Russia's economy are left with only hard policy options at this point, if they wish to avoid another default. Basically, and on top of all the rest, the economy has two added problems (apart, that is, from the drop in oil prices, the internal credit crunch and the slump in domestic demand): the high inflation, and the capital exit.br /br /br /Russia's reserves are disappearing for a whole variety of reasons at this point. First there are foreign investors who are simply pulling out - investors have removed about $290 billion from Russia sincethe start of August, according to the latest estimates from BNP Paribas. Secondly the Russia central bank has been using reserves to defend the currency. According to the Central Bank last week, Russia's foreign exchange and gold reserves dropped by nearly $10 billion from $396.2bn to $386.5bn in the week to 23 January.Citigroup calculate that the bulk of that fall was the by-product of a strong negative revaluation effect - which may have exceeded $8 billion - and the strengthening of USD vs EUR and GBP probably subtracted $5.5bn and $3.7bn, respectively, from the total in USD. Nonetheless Russia has spent very large quantities of foreign exchange on supporting the ruble since August . According to Kommerant reports Bank Rossii told Russian bankers in a meeting in the middle of the month that their “managed devaluation” of the ruble was over, but as we can see, this is far from being the case. Nikolai Kashcheev, head of economic research at Moscow-based MDM bank, Russia may abandon the ruble's dollar-euro trading band completely and allow the currency to trade freely, with the central bank only intervening to avert serious economic shocks using a so-called “dirty float” mechanism.br /blockquote“A dirty float would look like it was a free market but the central bank would still have a measure of control,” said Kashcheev, who forecast the ruble may fall 5.9 percent against the dollar if the central bank made the switch this week. “It would be a preferable outcome to the devaluation because what they’re doing at the moment is costing too much in reserves.” /blockquotebr /br /The central bank sold $3.2 billion last Friday alone, and $800 million Thursday, according to MDM Bank estimates. The bank appears to have stayed out of the market between January 23 and 27, the first three days after widening its exchange-rate band.br /br /Other demands on foreign exchange comes from Russian corporates who need to pay off foreign exchange debt, or simply protect their ruble liquidity from the devaluation fall, and from individuals and households who wish to do the same.br /br /As a result of the reserve and inflation pressures Russia’s central bank has little alternative but to maintain a relatively tight monetary stance, and indeed the bank raised two key interest rates for the third time since the start of November last week, with the repo rate for one-day and seven-day loans being raised to 11 from 10 percent. Now I say "relatively tight", since obviously with CPI inflation currently running at over 13%, even 11% interest rates are negative in Russia (by around 2%), and thus Russian policy rates could be considered somewhat accommodative (though not as accommodative as would be desireable given the strength of the hit the economy just took). At the end of the day terms like "tight" and "accomodative" are relative terms, and it all depends what you are dealing with.br /blockquoteThe Central Bank does not rule out the possibility of a new wave of the crisis erupting in the banking sector, the bank's Chairman Sergei Ignatyev told the Russian State Duma on Friday. He noted that although such a risk was unlikely in the near term, it was still fairly possible in the foreseeable future. The new wave of crisis may be brought about by a rise in loan defaults, Ignatyev explained. The Central Bank is holding meetings with bankers and keeping a watchful eye on  the situation, the official said, adding that the bank was ready for any new developments. He also noted that an increase in certain banks' capitalization might prove necessary./blockquotepRussian media are also reporting that the government anti-crisis committee (which is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Shuvalov) is putting together a rescue plan for carmaker OAO GAZ. If confirmed the move that would mark the first custom built financial rescue of an individual company by the government during the current economic crisis. OAO GAZ, which is based in Nizhny Novgorod, may need $1.6 billion in state funds to continue operating. Shuvalov has confirmed that the government plans to offer substantial support to Russian companies. “The list of such companies will be expanded to 2,000,” he said, noting that it would include both companies involved in the technical modernization of the national economy and those in a difficult financial situation. “To save all companies is impossible and unnecessary"./ppAnother company in difficulties is United Co. Rusal, who are set to sell shares in a private placement as they seek to refinance about $16.3 billion of debt, according to billionaire shareholder and company Chairman Viktor Vekselberg speaking in Davos. The Russian company owes $7 billion to foreign banks, about $6.5 billion to domestic lenders and about $2.8 billion to Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group. Rusal is in “active” talks with creditors. Rusal, which is Russia’s largest aluminum company, will cut output by as much as 10 percent and freeze investment for about three years. Aluminium fell to a five- year low this month, and profit is projected to slump 88 percent to $476 million this year, according to an estimate by ING Groep NV. Aluminum needs to trade at $1,700 a metric ton for Rusal to be able to service its debt and pursue new projects, according to Vekselberg - aluminum for delivery three months forward was 1.2 percent lower at $1,350 a ton as of 12:18 p.m. on Friday on the London Metal Exchange. Rusal was forced to seek a $4.5 billion bailout from state-owned Vnesheconombank in October to refinance loans used to buy 25 percent of OAO Norilsk Nickel, Russia’s biggest metals and mining company.br /br /So far Russia’s indebted companies have been bailed out by the government, but this year they are due to repay an additional US$117bn to foreign creditors. With opportunities to roll over existing debt limited, and the government’s reserves down by US$200bn since August, the chances of continuing rescues by the federal authorities appear greatly reduced. According to the latest central bank data, some US$117bn of debt needs to be repaid this year, with US$52bn owed by banks and US$62bn by corporations. Debt restructuring looms on the horizon.br /br /strongUnemployment Surges/strong/ppEvidently the crunch in the financial economy - Russia's base money shrank dramatically (from 4283 bln rub to 3896 bln rub, that's not far short of 10% in a month) between 29 December and 26 January - is having a serious impact on the real economy, and nowhere is that clearer than in the unemployment numbers. As could have been expected Russia’s unemployment rate rose sharply in December (up to 7.7 percent from 6.6 percent in November), its highest level since November 2005, as industrial production shrank the most in ten years. The total number of unemployed reached 5.8 million people, as compared with 5 million in November.br /br /a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYWHO7nZpbI/AAAAAAAAMec/Md0sL4-79w0/s1600-h/russia+unemploy.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297789227262125490" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 202px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYWHO7nZpbI/AAAAAAAAMec/Md0sL4-79w0/s400/russia+unemploy.png" border="0" //abr /br /What is most notable is the sharpness of this rise. Alongside the rise in umployment wages have started to fall, and the average monthly wage fell an annual 4.6 percent in December to 17,112 rubles ($517.85), the first contraction since October 1999 when they fell 2.2 percent. Real disposable income fell 11.6 percent, the biggest contraction since August 1999, according to Rostat. So this is how one part of the mechanism works basically. The oil price drops, the ruble devalues, fx loans become unsustainable, new funding dries up, and then the real economy sinks like a stone, and as the unemployment goes up, household and investment demand go down, and economic activity heads on a downward spiral.br /br /strongGDP Growth Outlook/strong/pblockquotebr /br /br /a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYWNXTAYrzI/AAAAAAAAMek/OiyxOS_E97w/s1600-h/russia+GDP.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297795968049655602" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 206px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYWNXTAYrzI/AAAAAAAAMek/OiyxOS_E97w/s400/russia+GDP.png" border="0" //abr /br /First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov told the State Duma today. “The crisis will continue for three years, of which 2009 will be the most difficult,” /blockquotepIf we now turn to economic forecasts for 2009, Economy Minister Alexei Kudrin said last week that Russia's 2009 GDP growth would be close to zero - a figure which was revised down from the Economy Ministry's earlier 2 percent estimate. blockquote“We must be prepared for further economic decline and a conservative tax and budget policy. Yet we will implement our main programs involving the social protection of the population. The reserves we have built up allow us to be up to that task,” Kudrin stressed. /blockquotepCurrent government estimates also project capital flight to be between $100 billion and $110 billion in 2009, while budget revenue will be far below the planned RUB 10.9 billion (approx. $307.9bn). Kudrin's present estimate is RUB 6.5 trillion (approx. $183.6bn), with oil exports expected to generate the bulk of the revenue. He says the federal budget is expected to decline by 40 percent, from a projected $300 billion [10.9 trillion rubles] to about $185 billion [6.5 billion rubles]. Russia’s current budget is based on an average oil price of $70 a barrel, even though Urals crude, the country’s chief export blend, has slumped 69 percent from a July record to $43.72 a barrel. As a result Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has told the Finance Ministry to recalculate the budget, with the Economy Ministry now forecasting oil to trade at an average $41/pblockquote.“These are the real challenges we face for our economy and the budget system,” Shuvalov said. “If we don’t change our budget targets, and simply replace this lost revenue with money from the reserve funds, the budget deficit will be 6.1 percent of GDP.”/blockquotepKudrin is suggesting that Russia will probably spend the bulk of its 7.317 trillion ruble oil-fund reserves to protect the budget, some, “but not all,”. The economic crisis is likely to “peak” this year, and tax revenue may slide by 1 trillion rubles, he added. But Elina Ribakova, Chief Economist at Citibank Russia takes a different view:/p blockquote“They're planning a large fiscal deficit. Kudrin was mentioning six per cent and our estimate is we could reach ten per cent of GDP, which is most of the reserve fund. So under that scenario yes, we could easily run out of money this year. But I hope that by prudent macroeconomic preemptive policies, we'll not allow that to happen.” /blockquotepRussia's Reserve Fund now stands at 4.7 trillion rubles ($142.5 billion) and the National Wealth Fund at 2.6 trillion rubles ($79 billion). On February 1 2008 the Finance Ministry divided the former Stabilization Fund into the Reserve Fund, which is intended to cushion the federal budget from a plunge in oil prices, and the National Wealth Fund, designed to help Russia carry out pension reforms. /pblockquoteFirst Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov stated that the global financial crisis is expected to last three years, He confirmed the appropriateness of the government’s reserve strategy, noting that the Finance Ministry was under pressure to start using the reserves several months ago. The crisis could be even more severe than was originally thought, he warned. “We are considering a scenario which is already tough enough, but it could get even tougher, with federal and regional budget revenues falling more sharply than we are estimating,” Shuvalov explained./blockquotepUnless the oil price recovers soon, Russia's current-account surplus will turn into deficit during 2009 (the Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts that it will equal 4% of GDP), meaning that the country would be forced to subsidise vital imports, including food, out of its already strained dollar holdings. Even if an outright default is likely to be avoided, some debt restructuring moves involving the bulk of Russian debt now seem more or less unavoidable. /ppa href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYWNeOkgP7I/AAAAAAAAMes/6dEXheI5m44/s1600-h/russia+CA+surplus.png"img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297796087118053298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 203px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ngczZkrw340/SYWNeOkgP7I/AAAAAAAAMes/6dEXheI5m44/s400/russia+CA+surplus.png" border="0" //a As for the outlook for Russian GDP, Kudrin's forecast seems somewhat on the optimistic side, and it is interesting to note that Citgroup have now revised to a 3% contraction in 2009 followed by growth of 1.7% in 2010. They argue (and I agree) that the key change in 2009 GDP is likely to come on the domestic consumption side. Private consumption, which accounts for about 80% of total consumption, now looks set to contract significantly (Citigroup forecast 4.6%), even if the government keeps its originally planned level of current spending. /ppAt the same time investment will also contract (Citigroup suggest by 10%) owing to reduced access to credit and further possible cuts in government capital spending (which accounts for about 10% of total investment growth). The government capital injections (an additional US$40 billion, according to Finance Minister Kudrin, Bloomberg, 22 January) is more liekly to go towards covering bank non performing loan losses rather than supporting new credit. /ppEven more worryingly Citigroup forecast a 10% contraction in new credit. Furthermore, they argue that the government may well have to cut capital spending owing to the need to accommodate increases in social spending and support for the regional governments. As a result of falling income and investment spending imports will fall (perhaps by 20% in dollar terms), this will be positive for the current account deficit (and to some extent for GDP. A 3% CA defeicit thus seems reasonable assuming no rebound in oil prices./ppSo, not a rosy picture. Next stop some more real economy data next week, and the manufacturing and services PMIs./p]]></description>
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		<title>Merrill Lynch leads Russian MA in 2008</title>
		<link>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/merrill-lynch-leads-russian-ma-in-2008/</link>
		<comments>http://www.straightstocks.com/investing-in-russia-stocks/merrill-lynch-leads-russian-ma-in-2008/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 25 Jan 2009 20:56:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jason Corcoran</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Russia]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[strongBusiness New Europe /strongbr /br /Jason Corcoran in Moscow br /br /January 23, 2009br /br /Merrill Lynch has ousted JP Morgan Chase to take the crown as leading adviser to Russian merger and acquisitions in 2008. br /br /US bank JP Morgan narrowly beat its Wall Street rival in 2007 due to its involvement in announced deals worth $40.8bn, compared with Merrill's $39.2bn. However, last year Merrill nudged ahead through advising on 14 deals worth $24bn compared with JP Morgan's 12 transactions worth $19.6bn, according to statistics prepared for bne by data provider Thomson Reuters. br /br /During the year, Merrill's most notable deals included advising steelmaker Severstal on its $775m acquisition of US steel products manufacturer Esmark, as well as Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer, on its taking a 25% holding in domestic rival Norilsk Nickel. br /br /Overall, fees generated from MA were well down last year, with Merrill Lynch earning $40.7m, compared with $58m in 2007. JP Morgan's fee income from Russian deals more than halved to $37.6m, from $78m a year ago. br /br /Merrill Lynch is one of the few investment banks operating in Russia that is yet to cut its staffing levels. The bank has 83 staff based in Moscow and has several vacancies it is seeking to fill when the market stabilises. "We have made a lot of money in MA and fixed income in the past year, and the business is not yet a high cost one," says one senior source. "In fact, we got lucky that we were gradually building up the brokerage business when the banking crisis struck." br /br /Responsibility for the business lies with Riccardo Orcel, head of investment banking for Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa, but the business is fronted in Moscow by American Bernie Sucher, head of global markets in Russia. Sergei Aleksashenko, the chairman of Russian business, quit in April last year following a dispute over the running of the operation, but sources indicated his position would not be refilled. br /br /emHarsh times /embr /br /Overall, investment banks operating in Russia have been hit by a 40% slump in MA activity with little sign of recovery until the middle of 2009. br /br /The volumes of MA deals tumbled by almost 40% in the three months to November 2008, according to Russian data provider Merger.ru. Some 258 transactions were completed worth $13.7bn, down by 40% from $22.6bn for the same period a year earlier. Volumes were hurt when big deals were pulled, including planned acquisitions by electricity utility OGK-1, supermarket chain Lenta and steelmaker Novolipetsk. br /br /Russian deal activity had been growing steadily for several years until the banking crisis hit Russia in September. In the second quarter of 2008, MA volumes were up 80% to $57bn from $31.5bn in the same period a year earlier. But from January through November, the MA market declined by 7% to $102bn, compared with $110bn in the corresponding period of last year. br /br /The communications sector was the most popular for deals, generating 20% of all MA deals between September and November worth $2.7bn. The financial sector was next with 18.5% of volumes worth $2.5bn. br /br /Russian broker Renaissance Capital was again the leading bookrunner in equity issuance for 2008 with a market share of 18% from four IPOs worth $452m. Morgan Stanley came second with three mandates worth $320 in a market where dealflow had dried up by end of the second quarter. The largest deal was a $1bn rights offering by London-listed Russian retailer X5 on April 22. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs were joint bookrunners and the underwriter was Russian broker Alfa Capital. br /br /In debt capital markets, US bank Citigroup triumphed over Deutsche Bank with a market share of 12.4% generated from six issues worth $2.75bn. The German bank registered a market share of 10.6% from five issues worth $2.36bn, while the Royal Bank of Scotland was not too far behind with a 10.4% share from 10 issues worth $2.3bn. br /br /http://businessneweurope.eu/storyf1423/Merrill_Lynch_leads_Russian_MA_in_2008]]></description>
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