The Moscow Times

Business: RenCap Cuts RTS '08 Target to 2,350
Renaissance Capital on Monday slashed its year-end forecast for the benchmark RTS Index from 3,000 to 2,350 and increased its equity risk premium for the country from 4 percent to 5.5 percent in a sign of continued investor jitters.

News

United Russia Creates Post for Putin
By Anna Smolchenko / Staff Writer United Russia on Monday voted unanimously to create a new party leadership position, which it will offer to Vladimir Putin, a move likely to cement the outgoing president's grip on power after he leaves office next month.

Art of Yoga Coming to Kremlin
By Francesca Mereu / Staff Writer Russia's first president organized a tennis revolution, and the second encouraged his people to practice martial arts.

Chechen Crime Boss Atlangeriyev Abducted
By Nabi Abdullaev / Staff Writer A reputed Chechen crime boss whose partner has been linked to the murder of investigative journalists Anna Politkovskaya and Paul Klebnikov has been abducted in Moscow, Kommersant reported Monday.

Head of Juice Makers' Union Killed
By Matt Siegel / Staff Writer The head of the Russian Juice Producers Union was beaten to death on the grounds of his Moscow region home as he was walking his dog over the weekend, law enforcement officials said.

City Hall Plans to Neuter 50,000 Stray Dogs
By Henry Meyer / Bloomberg City Hall is spending $64 million to neuter as many as 50,000 stray dogs because of a rising number of attacks on people.

Lavrov Patient on Kuril Talks
The Associated Press Russia will continue talks with Japan on settling their territorial dispute even though there was no sign of progress on the status of four Russian-held islands claimed by Japan, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

Georgia to Pull Forces From Kosovo
Reuters Georgia will withdraw its peacekeeping contingent from Kosovo later this week, Georgian First Deputy Defense Minister Batu Kutelia said Monday

Business

Putin to Talk Gas and Arms in Libya
By Max Delany / Staff Writer President Vladimir Putin will become the first Russian leader to visit Libya when he arrives in the country Wednesday at the invitation of its leader, Moammar Gadhafi, the Kremlin said in a statement Monday.

PwC Loses 2nd Appeal on Tax Claim
By Alex Nicholson / Staff Writer The Moscow District Arbitration Court rejected a second appeal by PricewaterhouseCoopers's Russian unit against a 380 million ruble ($16 million) back tax claim, a spokeswoman for the auditor said.

Gazprom Wins Huge Field in Yakutia
By Anatoly Medetsky / Staff Writer For the first time in the country's post-Soviet history, a field is awarded without competition.

Inter RAO Inks Serbia Power Deal
Reuters Electricity trader Inter RAO and Serbian power monopoly EPS on Monday signed a wide-ranging strategic partnership deal that could see the two companies build power plants together and also join forces abroad.

Turkmens Offer Gas Supplies to EU
The Associated Press Turkmenistan has agreed to supply the European Union with 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from next year, EU officials said Monday.

Jeweled Faberge Icon to Dazzle New York
By Katya Kazakina / Bloomberg A Faberge icon in a silver frame studded with rubies, sapphires and emeralds and a gigantic tsarist-era porcelain centerpiece are among the Russian treasures headed for auction at Sotheby's in New York this week.

Budget Funds Up for Grabs
Reuters The government will hold its first auction to place budget funds among commercial banks on Wednesday or Thursday to support liquidity in the banking system, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Monday, Interfax reported.

Potash Pushes Uralkali Up to Record
Bloomberg Uralkali, the company developing the world's second-largest potash deposit, on Monday rose to a record in London trading after it said prices might exceed $1,000 a ton, a fivefold increase from last year.

Severstal Splits in 3, Eyes M&A; Targets
By Robin Paxton / Reuters Severstal, the country's largest steel maker, is splitting its business into three divisions and considering further acquisitions in North America, Europe and Africa, senior company executives said on Monday.

City Wise

Time to Clean, Comrades
By Svetlana Osadchuk / Staff Writer The Soviet tradition of volunteer labor on spring Saturdays lives on, with some capitalist twists.

Visit Moscow's Versailles
By Maria Antonova / Special to The Moscow Times What to Do

Business in Brief

Tartare of Herring and Green Apples on Scandinavian Toast
Chef's Secrets

Pasta Around the Clock
By NathanToohey / Staff Writer Pasta i Basta definitely looks set to succeed. For starters, it is a creation of the restaurateurs behind such popular spots as the Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Ogni and Dantes. Furthermore, its location is prime -- on Sretensky Bulvar right by the fashionable Chistiye Prudy neighborhood.

Payments to Officials Send Prices Soaring
By Tai Adelaja / Staff Writer Real estate developers have blamed the huge disparity between construction costs and sale prices for Moscow apartments on a range of ""administrative expenses"" -- a combination of official fees and gray payments -- to city officials and government structures.

Luzhkov Rues State of Tower
The Moscow Times The 150-meter Shukhov television tower on Ulitsa Shabolovka, one of the city's most famous structures and a symbol of the Russian avant-garde, is in a ""disgraceful state,"" Mayor Yury Luzhkov said last week, Interfax reported.

Trutnev Plans to Fire City Forestry Chief
By John Wendle / Staff Writer The Natural Resources Ministry said Friday that it would fire the head of the Moscow branch of the Federal Forestry Agency over contentious auctions for land leases near the elite Rublyovskoye Shosse.

Date Set for Azov-City Land Sales
The Moscow Times The Krasnodar region announced Monday that it would hold auctions for land plots in the planned Azov-City gambling center on July 1.

A Regional Shift in Moscow
This is a first for Russia: We have a president-elect even while his predecessor continues to discharge his duties. Also new: President Vladimir Putin, unlike predecessor Boris Yeltsin, has no plans to fade into political obscurity.

A Shift in Authority
In December, when it became clear that President Vladimir Putin planned to transfer his office to First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and then himself move to the post of prime minister, the plan immediately raised some serious doubts.

U.S. and Russia Face Difficult Away Semis
By Pritha Sarkar / Reuters Andy Roddick tore through Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu on Sunday to seal the United States' place in the Davis Cup semifinals, after a rare defeat for top-ranked doubles pair Bob and Mike Bryan on Saturday had delayed the Americans' celebrations for 24 hours.

Business For Business

IPOs in Russia: Where and How Are They Offered?
By Vladislav Kvetinsky / Special to The Moscow Times Since 2003, the subject of IPOs has become unusually popular among business media, which have sometimes formed euphoric notions among Russian business managers and owners about this method of capital procurement, as if it is a magic wand capable making a business and its owners rich in a moment.

Russian IPO/SPO Market -- Key Trends and Outlook
By Igor Katusha / Special to The Moscow Times Negative trends in the international financial markets and fear of global recession caused by events in the U.S. mortgage credit market has created negative conditions for placements made in 2007. Despite complex market conditions, 2007 saw a record Russian IPOs and SPOs. The total volume of IPOs and SPOs by 28 Russian companies reached $31 billion, including 22 IPOs totaling $21 billion, twice as much as in 2006.

DD for IPO
By A.S. Yermolenko / Special to The Moscow Times The first of the abbreviations used in this headline was established in business vocabulary long ago. The procedure it denotes is popular in economic practice. The very phrase ""due diligence"" -- literally, ""due care"" or ""due attention"" -- is used to denote the overall audit of company activity, as well as separate audits of other components of business: legal, tax, financial, construction or corporate due diligence. In most cases, such an audit is conducted by the investor at the purchase of someone's business or when making a decision regarding participation in someone's business.

IPO Trends in Russia
By Marchello Gelashvili, Galina Shilina / Despite the global credit crunch, 2007 was still a record-breaking year for IPOs, with 30 listings by CIS and Russian domiciled companies generating $34 billion. Investors continued to focus on large deals, with a median deal size of $614.2 million.

How to Sell the Future to Investors: The Role of Investor Relations Before, During and After the IPO
By John Rose / Special to The Moscow Times Investor relations should ideally begin years before a company registers to float its shares on a stock exchange. Unfortunately, companies often make little to no investment in investor relations until just before or even after the IPO -- sometimes ignoring shareholders, hiding from bankers and spending as little time as possible with fund managers and institutional investors.

More Opportunities for Russian Issuers in 2008
By Elena Khisamova / Special to The Moscow Times The positive dynamic of Russian ECM volumes over the past several years is a clear sign that the local market has entered a new phase of its development and become a stable source of long-term capital.

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