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By John Helmer, Moscow
The UK High Court ruled this morning in London that the half-billion dollar fraud claim pursued by state shipping company Sovcomflot and its chief executive Sergei Frank was based on fabrications and lies. Frank was condemned in the ruling, and his witnesses dismissed as dishonest. Former Sovcomflot chief executive Dmitry Skarga and former chartering partner Yury Nikitin, have been vindicated in the ruling by Justice Sir Andrew Smith, which was handed down at 10 o’clock London time.
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by John Helmer - Friday, December 10th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Many Hindu gods are depicted with multiple arms. This is a pictorial way of illustrating for believers the many qualities which the god is believed to exercise. By assigning many arms, the illustrator was able to demonstrate the many things the deity can pull off at the same time.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, December 9th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow
The Bible isn’t nice to giants. Goliath goes down to a single stone from a slingshot-tossing boy. And Samson, whom the ancient Hebrews thought was so strong he could lift two mountains and rub them together like lumps of earth, fell for the temptress Delilah; she got him to go to sleep, then sapped his strength by cutting off his hair.
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by John Helmer - Monday, December 6th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Until today, milk, fruit pulp, and flavoured water (aka juice) have not been known to be strategic resources in the Russian Federation. But clever lobbying, or incredible stupidity, has arranged to make them seem so, and thereby create the appearance of compliance with Russia’s competition and anti-monopoly laws – without the reality.
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by John Helmer - Monday, December 6th, 2010
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From John Helmer, Moscow
LUKoil, the second largest of Russia’s oil producers and exporters, may spend $900 million over the next two years drilling up to 11 offshore probes for oil in the west Atlantic off Ghana and Ivory Coast, a LUKoil source told Business Day yesterday. The number of wells has diminished since LUKoil officials announced their West Africa targets in September, but the proposed investment looks larger.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow
When there was a Russian steel consumption boom three years ago, the domestic steel business wasn’t open to foreign steelmakers, even if they were prepared to pay premium prices to buy into Russian steel assets. And the Russian steel sector remained just as closed when the crash came, driving most of the mills to the verge of bankruptcy — that’s because discount asset values are reserved for Russian buyers. If money doesn’t talk in the Russian marketplace, who or what does?
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 1st, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow
Oleg Deripaska has told the Chinese to carry his water while he waits for the British to decide what he owes to the individual who, once upon a time, trusted him more than anyone else has done ever since.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow
When Transcontainer, the state rail company, started selling its shares in the form of global depositary receipts (GDR) on the London Stock Exchange on November 11, the price fixing was $80 per share, $8 per GDR.
“We are very pleased that the first IPO of a subsidiary of Russian Railways has been positively received by international investors’, said RZhD President Vladimir Yakunin (see image). ‘We view this as a strong gesture of their support for the ongoing reform of the Russian railway transportation sector. RZhD warmly welcomes new shareholders of Trans-Container and will continue to support Trans-Container’s business in Russia and abroad.”
But this isn’t what happened at all – and Yakunin, along with everyone else in the international market, knows it.
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by John Helmer - Monday, November 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow
After announcing early in the week that 50% of Sovcomflot’s shares will be sold over the next two years, between 2011 and 2013, government officials today refused to tell Fairplay what valuation the government has put on the shipping company, and how much cash the sell-off has been targeted to raise.
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by John Helmer - Friday, November 26th, 2010
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