By John Helmer in Moscow

In the business of bloodsucking, noone does it better than Glencore of Baar, Switzerland. They call it trading.

The way it works is that Glencore sinks its teeth into anyone unknowing, foolish, impoverished or desperate enough to come within range. Glencore then trades on 18% or higher profit margins for export sales, which no producer would tolerate if he’s in his right mind and health. So Glencore turns him into a corpse, semi-alive in order to keep up the flow of the red stuff. The profits from trading commodities from companies in which Glencore owns equity positions is even better than the straight trading ventures. In Russia, this is known as transfer pricing or cash and asset stripping. It’s illegal, although the law is almost never enforced.
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by John Helmer - Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (New York) decided yesterday that the US racketeering statute can reach Russian wrongdoers only if their deeds are done on American territory. Running the loot, laundering, or spending it through US banks and bank accounts, or on American real estate and other haven assets, isn’t enough to allow jurisdiction, the 3-judge panel has decided, following the precedent of a new Supreme Court ruling issued early this year.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

The Russian steelmaking group Evraz announced today that it has cancelled the sale of its Connecticut-based vanadium producer, Strategic Minerals Corporation (Stratcor). Without giving a reason, the announcement says the company “notes the recent publications regarding the possible sale of…Stratcor…Following a comprehensive analysis of Evraz’s strategic options in relation to its US vanadium subsidiary Stratcor, Evraz has terminated negotiations regarding the possible divestment.”
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

For weeks now, Yury Luzhkov has been receiving ultimatums to resign, along with black valentines for his wife. Yesterday, he did a Metaxas.

Ioannis Metaxas, a career army officer with more military skill than brains, ran Greece as a dictator from 1936 until his death in January of 1941. He was fascist, meretricious, cruel, and his regime was corrupt.
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by John Helmer - Tuesday, September 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

One of the lucrative carry trades is about to be chopped.

A new report by the UK market regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has warned that it intends to crack down on links between companies preparing share market sales and financial media reporters and columnists, the effect of which, according to the FSA, has been to unlawfully hype share price and make money on the sly. In short, market abuse by insiders and their media accomplices.
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by John Helmer - Monday, September 27th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

The Sakha government has agreed to a reorganization of the Alrosa shareholding, legalizing open-market trading of Alrosa shares for the first time, and promising a privatization of state-owned shares soon.
The Yakuts will not agree, however, to privatizing more than 20% to 25% of Alrosa shares; the federal government and Alrosa chief executive, Fyodor Andreyev, have been wanting to sell up to 49%.
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by John Helmer - Friday, September 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Sovcomflot, the Russian state-owned tanker group, reports that, despite rising revenues of $678.6 million in the first six months of this year — up 11% over the same period of 2009 — earnings have fallen 4% to $292.6 million; and net income has dropped 5% to $111.2 million. Revenues rose in part because the company has added 11 vessels to its operating fleet, with a total now of 10.5 million deadweight tonnes, making an increase of 13% in fleet tonnage. The fleet gains include four new Suezmax oil tankers and one ice-class shuttle tanker for operations in the Arctic.
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by John Helmer - Friday, September 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Sacre-Coeur Minerals (SCM) is a small Toronto-listed goldminer prospecting the malarial swamps of Guyana (South America), so far without striking El Dorado.

The company is so small, its website doesn’t publish financial reports. But the required filings with the stock exchange indicate that it is producing no gold; its operating expenses exceed its income; it paid out more in compensation last year to its Canada-based employees and consultants than to its Guyana prospecting organization; and it has obligations to share, warrant and options holders amounting to C$40.8 million.
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by John Helmer - Friday, September 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Victor Vekselberg was acquitted today by a Swiss court in Bellinzone of charges of illegal stock market manipulation in his 2006 takeover of Oerlikon, a major Swiss enterprise.
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by John Helmer - Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow

Rumpelstiltskin is one of the nastier dwarves in the canon of scary children’s stories. But for investors in goldmining, it is worth remembering that his investment in gold production proved to be pretty successful until he got careless when talking to himself, and revealed his name.
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by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
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