Russia

As Russia’s government counts the months to an economic rebound, a bellwether of investment is nearing levels of distress last seen during the throes of a recession seven years ago, Bloomberg News reported. Building completions plunged 9 percent from a year earlier in May, the worst showing since October, even as industrial production grew for a second month and consumer indicators from real wages to unemployment improved.

Vladimir Putin is considering selling part of Russia’s corporate crown jewels to China and India as the president struggles to meet spending commitments before his possible re-election bid in less than two years, Bloomberg News reported. Russia is seeking buyers for 19.5 percent of state oil champion Rosneft OJSC and would prefer a joint deal with the two nations leading the growth in global energy demand, two people familiar with the matter said.

Russian farming conglomerate Rusagro has filed a bankruptcy claim against Razgulay , according to materials of the Moscow Arbitration Court, Reuters reported. Rusagro, a fast-growing pork and sugar producer, confirmed submitting the claim, saying it was a technical move. Rusagro acquired all existing debt, as well as around 20 percent of shares of the Razgulay Group from Razgulay creditor VEB last year. Razgulay has subsequently put its assets up for sale and Rusagro agreed to buy three sugar-processing plants and one for buckwheat from the firm.

In a victory for Moscow, a Dutch court on Wednesday overturned an order that Russia pay $50 billion to shareholders in defunct oil company Yukos, saying that the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration had no jurisdiction, the Irish Times reported. Former Yukos shareholders said they would appeal the surprise decision, which could impact earlier rulings in Belgium and France that four former shareholders were entitled to seize Russian state assets to compensate them for the loss of the oil giant.

Russian coal and steel producer Mechel said on Monday it had agreed a debt restructuring deal with the country's biggest bank Sberbank totalling 30 billion roubles ($446 million) and $427 million, Reuters reported. The mining company, controlled by businessman Igor Zyuzin, borrowed heavily before Russia's economic crisis and has struggled to keep up repayments as demand for its products weakened alongside tumbling coal and steel prices.

Across the global oil patch, from Texas to the North Sea, drilling rigs are standing idle as energy companies respond to the slump in crude prices by cutting investments. Not so in the swampy Siberian marshes that are Rosneft’s heartland, the Financial Times reported. At Yuganskneftegaz, the production subsidiary that accounts for more than one-tenth of the country’s oil output, the state-controlled Russian oil company doubled its drilling rate during 2015.

The number of Russians living below the poverty line rose to the highest levels in nearly a decade in 2015, as the oil-dependent economy suffered a second year of recession, data showed Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Years of high crude oil prices had pushed Russian’s living standards up, but a recent sharp drop in prices has left Russia’s economy stuck in a recession despite government claims that the worst is over.

The head of Russia's ailing state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) could be replaced soon by a senior banker from Sberbank, four sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday. Three of the sources said the decision to replace VEB's Vladimir Dmitriev with Sberbank Deputy Chairman Sergei Gorkov could be announced as soon as Thursday. Government officials have been discussing for months how to rescue VEB, which finds itself saddled with toxic assets totalling over $12.6 billion and is at risk of failing to meet its debt repayments.

Russia's Gazprombank will receive Mechel's Elga coal project in exchange of paying off some of the coal and steel company's debt to Sberbank, according to preliminary debt restructuring deal, two banking sources told Reuters. The agreement is a part of a wider restructuring process, announced by Mechel this month, which involves Sberbank, Gazprombank, VTB and a consortium of international lenders. The restructuring process, if approved by Mechel's shareholders next month, will mark the end of two years of talks between the company and creditors.

Russian coal and steel producer Mechel has reached debt restructuring agreements with its major creditors after two years of negotiations on a debt pile it said had threatened the company's survival, Reuters reported. The mining company controlled by businessman Igor Zyuzin borrowed heavily before Russia's economic crisis and has struggled to keep up repayments as demand for its products weakened alongside tumbling coal and steel prices.