Search Results for: Russia

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE REFORM of the world’s anti-money laundering campaign is continuing apace. Defying critics of its alliance with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the Financial Action Task Force of the OECD has issued a revised set of its key 40 Recommendations to fight the crime.…

BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIA has called on the European Union to adopt a single veterinary certificate to accompany exports from any country in the block. Such a procedure would replace the current system of different certificates issued by separate countries. The demand reflects Russia’s increasing concern about guarantees on the safety of imported livestock and animal products.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE PARIS-BASED perfume business Sephora is in talks to buy L’Etoile, Russia’s largest cosmetics chain. L’Etoile, which is based in Moscow, has 101 stores in the city and also owns outlets in St Petersburg. The company’s sales amounted to US$90 million last year.…

BY MARK ROWE
DANISH confectionary giant Dandy’s Dirol-Cadbury has won an injunction to continue operating its plant in the Russian town of Novgorod despite government efforts to close it down for alleged unspecified breaches. Russia’s National Resources Ministry said it had decided to suspend Russia’s largest chewing gum manufacturer for what it described as “the unauthorised release of harmful agents into the atmosphere” at the US$100 million factory.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIAN poultry outfit Stavropolsky Broiler has been lent US$15 million by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation. The money will help the Agros subsidiary rehabilitate and expand commercial broiler production in the Stavropol region of Russia, improving bird breeding, strengthening management, increasing production, providing working capital, and expanding distribution networks.…

BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIA’S Vsampo-Avisma Group, Europe’s top titanium producer, is planning to sell as much as 27 per cent of its stock at an initial public offering on foreign exchanges. Moscow-based Troika Dialog brokerage will advise on the sale, according to Vsmpo-Avisma’s deputy general director Vyacheslav Bresht.…

BY MARK ROWE
AUSTRALIAN specialised technology firm Ausmelt has signed a US$9.5 million contract to provide its technology to modernise the Karabashmed copper smelter in Russia’s Urals region. Work on an engineering design for a new Ausmelt furnace and an electric settling furnace will begin immediately and the new plant is set to commence operations in the second half of 2004.…

BY RICHARD HURST
THE SOUTH African Competition Commission has given the green light to the proposed merger between Harmony Gold and African Rainbow Minerals Gold (ARMgold). The deal includes the acquisition of all the issued share capital of ARMgold by Harmony; once finalised, the merged business will be the largest gold producing company in South Africa.…

BY MARK ROWE
RUSSIA’S Norilsk Nickel has announced long-terms plans to boost its modernisation plan begun last year across its plants and products. Norilsk spent US$351 million on modernisation in 2002 and plans to invest the same amount in 2003, the company said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE has been a lot of talk about water in international meetings and organisations this year. Report after report has spelt out a gloomy message: we are all using too much water and if reforms do not make systems more sustainable, then a thirsty future beckons.…