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UPDATE 1-Cherkizovo expects more state help on grain
http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFLDE67A0AL20100811
Wed Aug 11, 2010 6:55am GMT
* Meat producer says state helping farmers amid drought
* Expects further subsidies if grain prices continue to rise
* Maintains production targets for 2010
(Adds CEO comment, detail)
MOSCOW, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Russia's biggest meat producer Cherkizovo (GCHE.MM) said the government should do more to help farmers if grain prices continue to rise, although it welcomed measures to mitigate the impact of the drought to date.
The company, which owns poultry and pig farms, said aggressive grain price increases caused by a heatwave-induced poor harvest were likely to lead to meat price inflation, but that it was counting on the state for further aid.
"In the event of sustained extraordinary grain price increases, we reasonably anticipate that the government will intervene with additional subsidy measures," Chief Executive Sergei Mikhailov said on Wednesday.
Russia has imposed a grain export ban amid other measures to help local producers, who have seen crops destroyed by the country's worst heatwave on record. [ID:nN10151347]
Mikhailov added that the heatwave and subsequent fires in Central Russia had not affected any of its farms to date, while the group remained on track to hit 2010 production targets.
Cherkizovo said poultry sales rose 8 percent in the first half of the year, while pork soared 75 percent as new farms reached full target levels. (Reporting by John Bowker; Editing by David Cowell)
Russia's Sistema to float public issue for Indian telecom arm
http://www.topnews.in/russias-sistema-float-public-issue-indian-telecom-arm-2268730
Submitted by Bhuvan Kala on Wed, 08/11/2010 - 06:04.
New Delhi, Aug 11 - Sistema, one of Russia's largest listed companies with annual revenues of $19 billion, will soon float a public issue for its Indian telecom services venture after Moscow concludes its funds infusion programme of around $675 million.
"We are ready for a public issue. In principle, this has been approved. But there are some procedural issues. We are all hoping it concludes it soon," said Vsevolod Rozanov, president and chief executive of Sistema Shyam TeleServices, their India joint venture.
"The Russian government will also be investing. But the guidelines of the Indian markets regulator want us to freeze the promoter-investment before the public issue. I think this could take around three-four months," Rozanov told IANS in an interview.
The top company executive said both the Russian investment and the public issue will be made by way of issuing fresh equity shares. This means the money, upwards of $1 billion, will accrue to the company for its future plans.
The Russian company has already invested over $1.5 billion in India.
Sistema -- which offers mobile voice and data services in India under the MTS brand -- currently holds 73.71 percent share in the Indian venture, 23.79 percent is held by the Shyam Group and the remaining 2.5 percent is with the public.
During Prime Minister Vadimir Putin's visit here in March this year, Russian officials had told IANS that their government had approved a state investment to the tune of $676 million into Sistema Shyam TeleServices.
"We are ready to contribute funds in your joint activity," Putin himself had said during an interactive session with Indian business leaders during the visit, when queried about his government's proposed investment in Sistema's Indian venture.
Incidentally, the interaction was by way of a live web cast organised from Sistema's office in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi, with a live audience in cities including the national capital, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has already approved the investment under the unified access service norm, which allows telecom companies to offer fixed, mobile and data services all under one licence.
Speaking about the future plans of the company, Rozanov said despite being late entrants in India, there were already some six million subscribers in the country in 12 out of 22 circles in which the company was operating.
"The target of 10 million subscribers by the yearend is very much in sight."
Rozanov said the decision not to participate in the auction of broadband airwaves in India was taken because the technology they have opted for was already delivering very high speeds, which will accelerate further by migrating to next generation technology.
"We launched our high-speed mobile broadband service under the Mblaze brand only in November 2009 but we already have more than 150,000 customers. Our network speed and quality also helped us to successfully launch MTS TV in April," he said.
"What I can also say is our EVDO technology, which is on the CDMA platform, is at par with 3G services under the GSM platform, which are yet to be rolled out by private telecom operators in India. So we have no cause for worry." (IANS)
Norilsk Independent Directors Back Efforts to Probe Board Vote
http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMVuu57BL51w
By Amanda Jordan
Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- OAO GMK Norilsk Nickel independent directors Gerard Holden and Brad Mills supported a request from shareholder United Co. Rusal for an external investigation into a board election in June.
“Further urgent consideration should be given to requesting the company’s IFRS auditor in combination with an independent international law firm to prepare a review of the results of the AGM voting,” Holden and Mills said Aug. 9 in a letter to Norilsk’s chairman obtained by Bloomberg News.
The two directors also called for a reconfiguration of the board, indicating that it should include three representatives of shareholder Interros Holding Co. rather than four, giving it the same number of seats as Rusal, and at least four independent non-executive directors instead of three.
Rusal claims the June 28 vote was manipulated and yesterday filed a request for arbitration to resolve the dispute. Rusal’s billionaire owner Oleg Deripaska has voiced concern that Interros has enough influence to pass a share buyback, which he says wouldn’t favor all shareholders, after the board approved dividends of $1.33 billion.
Maria Uvarova, a spokeswoman for Norilsk in Moscow, couldn’t immediately comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.
To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Jordan in London at ajordan11@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 11, 2010 02:40 EDT
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