Russia’s biggest lender posts 13 per cent jump in earnings June 7, 2012 RUSSIA’S biggest bank, Sberbank, said yesterday that its net profit grew 13.1 per cent for the first five months of the year, driven by growth in loans to corporate and retail clients. The figures reported are under Russian accounting standards, which have various differences to international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in the way they account [...]
LeakedIn: six million logins posted online June 6, 2012 LINKEDIN, the social network for professionals, yesterday admitted it was looking into claims that millions of its users’ passwords had been leaked online. What seemed to be almost 6.5m encrypted LinkedIn passwords were posted in a Russian forum – without the corresponding usernames – by someone claiming to have hacked into the website. LinkedIn took [...]
Aeroflot set to list in London June 6, 2012 AEROFLOT, the state-controlled Russian airline, is planning a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange followed by a placement of around 13 per cent of its stock in 2012-2013, reports claimed yesterday. The company, in which the Independent newspaper owner Alexander Lebedev has a 15 per cent stake, is on the list of companies the [...]
Key BP papers may come out June 6, 2012 A CONFIDENTIAL document at the heart of BP’s disputes with its partners in Russian oil company TNK-BP may become public under legal amendments agreed by Russia’s competition watchdog, its deputy director said yesterday. BP and the AAR consortium of four Soviet-born tycoons, who share control of the Russian oil producer, have traded accusations of breaching [...]
BP hit by fresh court fight over TNK-BP stake June 5, 2012 OIL major BP is facing renewed investor pressure in Russia after a court reopened a $13bn (£8.5bn) lawsuit linked to its TNK-BP venture. The Russian court said minority shareholders in TNK-BP can restart their fight over last year’s failed tie-in with oil explorer Rosneft. The shareholders complained that BP’s £10bn plan to join forces with [...]
A leaner firm already looks like a better takeover target than its rebellious Russian oil subsidiary June 5, 2012 BP has been saying for years that it wants to be a smaller, leaner firm. Lopping off its occasionally combative but always lucrative Russian arm is nevertheless a radical way to streamline. TNK-BP accounted for 29 per cent of BP’s production and 16 per cent of its 2011 profits. And when its “noisy, not dysfunctional” [...]
MegaFon float put on hold as Russia’s richest man sits tight June 5, 2012 THE global uncertainty around public listings was underlined yesterday when the chief executive of Russian mobile phone group MegaFon indicated its highly anticipated float might not occur for some time. Russia’s second biggest mobile operator – controlled by Arsenal shareholder and Russia’s richest man Alisher Usmanov – plans to list up to 20 per cent [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 31, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Osborne sues to deter EU overreach George Osborne is taking legal action in a bid to stop the EU from overreaching its powers by giving a pan-European supervisor the right to ban short selling of financial products. The chancellor’s decision to sue reflects his determination to prevent EU institutions overstepping their mandate, rather [...]
TNK-BP co-owner invites in bidders for the business May 31, 2012 TNK-BP, British oil major BP’s Russian joint venture that is embroiled in a shareholder dispute, may get a third investor, co-owner and former chief executive Mikhail Fridman. Fridman, one of the four Soviet-born tycoons who share control of the 50-50 venture via the AAR consortium, quit as chief executive on Monday, deepening a leadership crisis [...]
Fitch warns TNK-BP that board spat could cost its debt rating May 30, 2012 RATINGS agency Fitch has warned that fresh boardroom acrimony at Russian oil firm TNK-BP could result in a debt rating downgrade. Fitch said the resignation of chief executive and key investor Mikhail Fridman this week “is the latest in a series of signs that some form of separation between the joint venture’s partners appears to [...]