Russia

Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk, which is battling a shareholder attempt to remove its board, has agreed to provide a last minute bridge loan to a Hong Kong iron ore company in which it owns a 31 per cent stake, the Financial Times reported. The London-listed company said it would provide $29.75m to IRC to enable it to meet a June payment on a loan to ICBC, which was used to fund a mine near the border of China. Petropavlovsk also said it is in “advanced” talks with a major Russian bank to refinance the entire $340m project loan.

It didn’t take long for the world’s biggest bond investors to decide that Russia isn’t quite such a toxic trade after all, Bloomberg News reported. Less than two months after getting caught out with overweight positions as Russian debt was roiled by a fresh round of U.S. sanctions, some traders are finding their appetite again amid a quiet patch in tensions between Washington and the Kremlin. Russia has outperformed all peers this month and is one of only two countries to post a return in a Bloomberg Barclays index of emerging-market local-currency bonds.

Russia’s VTB Capital-led Numetal Mauritius Pvt Ltd. today told the company law appellate tribunal that it has offered over Rs 37,000 crore for Essar Steel Ltd. in the second round of bidding, Bloomberg Quint reported. The second round should be opened and the highest bidder selected from it, Numetal told the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. ArcelorMittal, the only other bidder to have put in a bid for Essar Steel in the first round in February, however, opposed the opening of the second round of bids and sought only the first round of bids to be considered.

Russian metals giant Rusal will overhaul its board and management in hopes of persuading the United States to lift sanctions but it may be forced to halt aluminium exports for good if the plan fails, sources close to the company said. Washington this month imposed sanctions on billionaire Oleg Deripaska and several companies in which he is a large shareholder, including Rusal, in response to what the United States called Russia’s “malign activities,” Reuters reported.

Veteran Russia strategist John-Paul Smith has a warning for anyone looking to buy the nation’s stocks on the cheap after this week’s selloff, Bloomberg News reported. “Investors could become collateral damage from the actions of either side in the new cool war,” Smith, a former Deutsche Bank AG strategist and founder of research firm Ecstrat, said in a note published Friday.

Russia’s credit risk jumped above South Africa’s for the first time in more than 18 months. The cost of insuring Russian debt against non-payment, as measured by five-year credit default swaps, has climbed 40 basis points this week to 162 as the stand-off with the U.S. over Syria intensifies, Bloomberg News reported. South Africa’s has risen 8 basis points to 160. Cristian Maggio, head of emerging markets strategy at TD Securities in London, says Russia’s relations with the U.S. have reached a new low.

A consortium led by VTB Group, Russia’s second-largest bank, said it is willing to buy out a local partner to ensure its offer for an indebted Indian steel mill meets government rules, setting up a contest with billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, Bloomberg News reported. Other investors in the group are willing to buy out Rewant Ruia’s stake in investment vehicle Numetal Ltd., Antoine Chemali, senior advisor for Mauritius-based Numetal, said in an interview in Mumbai on Thursday. That’s likely required because Ruia’s father is the founder of Essar Steel India Ltd.

ArcelorMittal and Russia’s state-controlled VTB Group have hit a fresh snag in their pursuit of Essar Steel India Ltd., an insolvent producer that could fetch at least $6 billion, Bloomberg News reported. Advisers evaluating the offers for Essar Steel are recommending that all the bids be disqualified, according to people with knowledge of the matter. A committee of Essar Steel lenders will meet later this week to discuss the eligibility of the proposals, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.

Moody’s Investors Service isn’t too concerned about a classified U.S. Treasury report about sanctions that’s been hanging over Russian bond markets. The ratings agency said that it would consider raising Russia to investment grade even if the nation is burdened with the kind of penalties that have curbed Venezuela’s ability to finance its debts, Bloomberg News reported. Moody’s put Russia on positive outlook last week, setting it on course for a possible raise out of junk in the next 12-18 months.

The Kremlin said yesterday that it hoped an out-of-court settlement reached between Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft and the Sistema conglomerate would be implemented smoothly, Reuters reported. In a phone call with reporters, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin hoped the settlement, under which Rosneft will receive 100 billion roubles ($1.72 billion) from businessman Yevtushenkov’s Sistema, will not run into any problems.