Gazprom Postpones Sale of Bonds, Fitch Withdraws Credit Ratings on Debt

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom, Russia's natural-gas
monopoly, postponed a planned sale of bonds prompting Fitch
Ratings to withdraw assigned grades for the debt.

More than 50 companies from U.S. carmaker Chrysler to
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s Alliance Boots Plc postponed or
reworked debt sales since mid-June as investors shun riskier
assets amid concern that U.S. subprime mortgage-related losses
will spill into other parts of the debt markets.


Read more at Bloomberg Bonds News

Gazprom 30-year bond postponed - market source

(Reuters) - The Russian gas export monopoly had already scrapped on
Wednesday its plans to issue 10-year paper as part of the same
deal, due to volatile market conditions.




Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Russia's Urals Oil Steady as European Refining Margins Recover From Lows

(Bloomberg) -- Urals crude, Russia's export blend, was
little changed against benchmark prices in northwestern Europe
after recent losses stemmed a decline in refining profitability.

The price of Urals cargoes loading within 10 to 25 days
remained at a discount to dated Brent of minus $2.65 a barrel on
July 20, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, unchanged from
July 19.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Chevron-Led Caspian Pipeline Group Faces $290 Million Russian Tax Claim

(Bloomberg) -- The Chevron Corp.-led Caspian
Pipeline Consortium received a $290 million back-tax claim from
Russian authorities for 2004 and 2005.

The venture is challenging the claim alongside similar
back-tax claims for previous years in the Moscow City Court,
Olesia Kuznetsova, a spokeswoman for the Caspian Pipeline
Consortium, said by phone in Moscow today. The claim was levied
by Russia's Federal Tax Service, she said.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Russia's Mordashov eyes Power Machines buy -media

(Reuters) - Germany's Siemens holds 25 percent plus one share
in Power Machines and had sought to buy control in the firm, but
Russian authorities blocked the deal citing national security
reasons.




Russia's former power monopoly UES also holds 25
percent in Power Machines, which has market value of $1.2
billion.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Ford submits sole bid for Romania's Daewoo Craiova

(Reuters) - Romania wants to sell a 72.4 percent stake in Daewoo Automobile Craiova. Earlier this year, Romania said it had received letters of intent from General Motors Corp. and Russian Machines, as well as Ford.




The government has previously wanted to sell 95 percent of Daewoo, by adding a 22 percent stake owned by investment company SIF Oltenia to the tender, but AVAS told Reuters the company has withdrawn from the sale.


Read more at Reuters.com Business News

Aluminum May Pace LME in Second Half as Mergers, China Slash Global Supply

(Bloomberg) -- Aluminum, the worst performer on the
London Metal Exchange since 2002, has the best chance to advance
for at least the next six months.

A growing number of investors say takeovers of Alcan Inc. of
Canada and Russia's OAO Sual Group may reduce aluminum production
as China, the world's largest supplier, cuts exports. Aluminum
will be the only metal on the LME to gain for the rest of 2007,
while copper, nickel, zinc and tin decline, futures markets show.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

UK's Jaeger happy to go it alone as sales surge

(Reuters) - High-end and luxury retailers boasting iconic brands have
attracted private equity investors looking to expand their
operations in emerging economies such as China and Russia, where
demand for designer clothes and accessories is booming.




CEO Belinda Earl, formerly head of department store group
Debenhams before its private equity buyout, said there
were "always the speculative calls" at Jaeger but that they had
never reached a stage at which money was discussed.


Read more at Reuters.com Market News

REUTERS SUMMIT-S'pore GIC eyeing Russia, Vietnam, Turkey

(Reuters) - "The trend of wealth creation is shifting from the West to
the East and if you are positioning your strategy over the long
term, your strategy over the last 10 years would be different
for the next 10 years," said Seek Ngee Huat, president of GIC
Real Estate, speaking at the Reuters Real Estate Summit in
Singapore.




He said GIC had begun to "explore" Russia, Turkey and
Vietnam and was also looking to make significant investments in
India, where it last week announced a joint venture with
Mumbai-based property firm Runwal to build a $62 million mall.
He did not say how much investment might flow to those
countries.


Read more at Reuters.com Bonds News

Russia to Help Balkans Become New Energy Hub, Putin Tells Energy Summit

(Bloomberg) -- Russia will take an increasingly
central role in turning southeast Europe into a new energy hub,
President Vladimir Putin said.

Russian companies are ready to increase supplies of energy
to the region and invest in new power plants, Putin said,
speaking at a Balkans energy summit in Zagreb, Croatia, today.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Putin Visits Balkans to Bolster Russia's Energy Role in Southeast Europe

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin
meets with leaders of the 10 Balkan countries in Croatia today to
bolster Russia's presence in southeast Europe as the region
becomes a hub for energy transport.

Putin will use the summit to help Russian energy companies,
such as OAO Gazprom, set up new partnerships, buy assets and win
contracts in the region, the Russian presidency said in a
statement. Gazprom, Russia's gas-export monopoly, and Eni SpA,
announced yesterday a plan to build a new gas pipeline linking
Russia to the European Union across the Black Sea and through the
Balkans.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

UPDATE 1-Aeroflot to pull out of Alitalia bidding - I'fax

(Reuters) - "The decision in principle has already been taken. The chief
executive of Aeroflot will inform Italy's Finance Ministry about
the Russian carrier's withdrawal from the acquisition of the
state-held shares in Alitalia," the source said.




An Aeroflot spokeswoman, however, told Italy's ANSA news
agency that the Russian airline is going ahead with its offer
for Alitalia and that its director general presented a report on
the subject to the carrier's new board elected on Saturday.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

BP's Russia unit surrenders gas field to Gazprom

(Reuters) - The sale is the culmination of years of pressure on BP's
Russian joint venture TNK-BP, which wanted to develop the huge
field to supply lucrative export markets in Asia.




Gas export monopoly Gazprom has consistently blocked these
plans, while regulators accused the Kovykta operating company,
Rusia Petroleum, of breaching its license terms.


Read more at Reuters.com Mergers News

Gazprom Gains BP Siberian Gas Field as Putin Ends Foreign Energy Control

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom took control of BP Plc's
stake in a Siberian deposit with enough natural gas to supply
Asia for five years, as President Vladimir Putin ends foreign
ownership of Russia's biggest energy assets.

Gazprom will buy the 63 percent stake in the Kovykta field
held by BP's Russian unit TNK-BP and half of the East Siberian
Gas Co. for between $700 million and $900 million, BP said in a
statement distributed via the Regulatory News Service today.
TNK-BP has the right to buy 25 percent of Kovykta later.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

BP May Agree to Sell Kovykta Field Stake to Gazprom, Russian Ministry Says

(Bloomberg) -- BP Plc may lose control of a
Siberian gas field big enough to supply Asia for five years, a
government official said, as Russian President Vladimir Putin
ends foreign ownership of the nation's biggest energy assets.

Dmitry Medvedev, chairman of OAO Gazprom and a first deputy
prime minister, will chair a meeting in the Kremlin later today
between the Russian gas-export monopoly and BP, a Kremlin
spokeswoman said by phone, declining to be identified. Both
companies declined to comment.


Read more at Bloomberg Energy News

Rosneft First-Quarter Net Income Falls 25 Percent on Higher Taxes, Costs

(Bloomberg) -- OAO Rosneft, set to become Russia's
largest oil producer, said profit declined 25 percent in the
first quarter on higher export taxes and a weaker dollar.

Net income declined to $602 million from $802 million a
year earlier, state-run Rosneft said in an e-mailed statement
today. That is 7.5 percent higher than the $560 million estimate
in a Bloomberg survey of seven analysts. Revenue advanced 12
percent to $8.2 billion, more than the $8 billion in the survey.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Alitalia shares slide amid worries about sale

(Reuters) - Aeroflot denied a report by Russian news agency Interfax that it had pulled out of the bidding for the government's 49.9 percent stake but said a purchase would depend on price.




"Everything depends on the conditions," Irina Dannenberg, spokeswoman for Aeroflot, said. "We are not happy with the conditions and do not intend to buy Alitalia at any price."


Read more at Reuters.com Hot Stocks News

Russian Economy to Expand 6.3 Percent a Year Through 2010, Naryshkin Says

(Bloomberg) -- Russia's economy will expand at an
annual rate of 6.3 percent in the five years through 2010,
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Naryshkin said.

The government will meet its inflation target of 8 percent
or less this year as the pace slows from 4.7 percent in the
first five months of the year, Naryshkin told investors today at
a conference organized by Renaissance Capital in Moscow.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News

Russian Stocks Upgraded to `Equal Weight' by Morgan Stanley Strategists

(Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy Russian stocks
such as OAO Mobile TeleSystems because the equity market has
dropped to a level that's ``more appropriate given high
political and corporate-governance risk,'' Morgan Stanley said.

Strategists led by Jonathan Garner, London-based head of
global emerging-markets strategy, raised their recommendation on
Russian stocks to ``equal weight'' from ``underweight,'' which
means that investors should hold the country's shares in line
with the country's weighting in international indexes.


Read more at Bloomberg Stocks News

EADS Needs to Offer Russia `Serious' Cooperation Agreements, Ivanov Says

(Bloomberg) -- European Aeronautic, Defense & Space
Co., the parent company of Airbus SAS, isn't yet offering Russia
a satisfactory role to meet aerospace-industry cooperation
pledges, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.

``If we talk about a strategic partnership here, we have to
have serious agreements and have a clear prospect'' of joint work
backed by officials in EADS's home markets of France and Germany,
Ivanov said in an interview June 13 at his Moscow office.


Read more at Bloomberg Emerging Markets News