Russia 090423 Basic Political Developments

VTB forecasts revenue to rise 10%-20% in 2009

http://www.interfax.com/3/489728/news.aspx
MOSCOW. April 23 (Interfax) - VTB (RTS: VTBR) expects revenue from

core operations (net interest income before provisioning and net

commission income excluding one-time items) to rise in the middle of the

range 10%-20% in dollar terms in 2009.

The figure is a "working forecast," the bank said in its financial

report, noting that the "critical variable" remains the overall

condition of the economy.

Alfa to Get VEB Loan

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1009/42/376507.htm

Alfa Bank expects to receive a state-subordinated loan for 20 billion rubles ($587 million), president Pyotr Aven said Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Alfa received a 10.2 billion ruble subordinated loan from state bank VEB as part of the government's support package for the banking sector. "We can receive twice as much as we received, and we will get it," Aven told a news briefing. (Reuters)
Sberbank Q1 Profit Sinks

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1009/42/376507.htm

Sberbank on Wednesday posted a 99 percent year-on-year drop in first-quarter net profit, hit by increased provisions for bad loans.

The bank reported a 300 million ruble ($8.8 million) net profit for the period, according to Russian accounting standards, down sharply from 36.1 billion rubles in the first quarter of 2008. The results implied that the bank made a loss in March, as it had earlier reported 5.1 billion rubles in earnings for January and February. (Reuters)
Sberbank to hold talks with Kazakh officials on BTA acquisition in May

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Rencap, Russia

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Reuters reported that Sberbank will hold talks with Kazakh officials next month on taking over BTA Bank, which was nationalised in February, BTA Chairman Arman Dunayev said at a conference in Almaty yesterday. Sberbank representatives will discuss the results of their due diligence with officials from BTA and Samruk-Kazyna, the sovereign wealth fund operator that controls BTA, Dunayev added. Sberbank's Moscow-based spokeswoman Irina Kibina confirmed these by phone today.

While it is official that Sberbank is in talks with BTA and teams from both banks have been going back and forth between the two entities, we do not believe that this process will end with Sberbank buying the troubled Kazakh bank. The only reason we could see for such an acquisition is political. Sberbank could comfortably grab corporate market share with a strong push in the Kazakh market at the current time, but with the retail platform of BTA being average at best - in a country of just 15mn - it does not seem worth stretching for during the time of a banking crisis at home. Any move on the BTA front by Sberbank would be taken negatively by the market, very difficult to justify, and could significantly tarnish the relatively new management's market reputation, in our view - unless there were overly generous pricing and guarantees involved.

David Nangle

Peter Hambro Mining PLC completion of Aricom acquisition and move to main market

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Press release

April 22, 2009

 
On 6 February 2009 the Independent Board Committees of Aricom plc ("Aricom") and Peter Hambro Mining Plc ("PHM" or the "Company") announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended all share offer to be made by PHM for the entire issued share capital of Aricom (the "Merger").

 
Earlier today, the Independent Board Committee of Aricom announced that the Court has sanctioned the scheme of arrangement relating to the recommended all share offer ("Share Scheme"), which was required in order to implement the Merger, and the scheme of arrangement relating to the exchange of Aricom Warrants for new Peter Hambro Mining Warrants ("Warrant Scheme"). PHM confirms that the Share Scheme and the Warrant Scheme have today become effective in accordance with their terms. Trading in Aricom shares and warrants on the London Stock Exchange was cancelled at 8.00am (London time) today.
 
The Company is also pleased to announce that it has successfully transferred the listing of its entire issued ordinary share capital from AIM to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority ("Official List"). Admission of PHM shares to trading on London Stock Exchange plc's main market for listed securities ("Main Market") and commencement of dealings became effective from 8.00 a.m. today. Trading in all the Company's ordinary shares on AIM has been cancelled simultaneously. The New PHM Shares and New PHM Warrants issued in connection with the Merger have also been admitted to the Official List and commenced trading on the Main Market today. The ticker for the Company's ordinary shares will continue to be LSE: POG and the ticker for the new PHM warrants will be LSE: POGW. At admission there were 171,083,485 ordinary shares and 8,312,463 warrants in issue.
 
The Company is also pleased to announce that the 2008 Annual Report and Accounts for Peter Hambro Mining Plc will be available today to download from the Company's website www.peterhambro.com and copies are currently being prepared for mailing to shareholders.
 
Peter Hambro, Chairman, commented: "The successful completion of the merger with Aricom and the move to the Main Board of the London Stock Exchange both mark significant milestones in the development of PHM as a leading natural resources company, with a focus on the Far East of Russia.
 
We have grown tremendously since we first listed on AIM in April 2002 and we look forward to the next stage in our development where we continue to grow our production of profitable ounces of gold whilst exploring the alternatives to take forward the Iron Ore projects."

KAMAZ to stop its main production line until May

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=13866087&PageNum=0

KAZAN, the Republic of Tatarstan, April 23 (Itar-Tass) -The main production line of the Kamaz automobile plant will stop until the end of the May holidays.

“During this forced stoppage caused by the falling demand for heavy trucks the workers and engineers will be paid two thirds of the tariff,” Nail Nagumanov, the deputy director of the company’s department for informational policy, told Itar-Tass.

It’s the fourth downtime at Kamaz this year. The first was during the New Year holidays, the second - from February 2 to 12, the third – from March 6 to 16. The plant has switched over to a four-day working week in October 2008.

The Kamaz automobile works is Russia’s leading producer of heavy trucks. It occupies the 11th place among the world’s major heavy trucks producers and is 8th in the production of diesel engines.

The Kamaz group of companies includes 96 sister enterprises. They employ about 50,000 people.