Business Briefs
Mar 18, 2009 at 19:45Japan to seal carbon deal with Ukraine soon
Japan is set to complete a deal to buy emissions rights from Ukraine, marking its first deal via government-to-government trading under the Kyoto Protocol, according to a March 16 report by Reuters, citing a Japanese government source.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is scheduled to visit Japan later this month to seal the deal. Ukraine will deliver 30 million tons of so-called Assigned Amount Units, half of which will be delivered in the Japanese fiscal year that ends this month and the other half in the next fiscal year, the source said.
Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions rose to a record 1.37 billion tons, putting it at risk of failing its Kyoto target to cut emissions by 6 percent from the 1990 level of 1.26 billion tons in carbon dioxide equivalent.
Over the past two years, Japan has talked with about 10 Eastern and Central European countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, to help it meet its greenhouse gas emissions target under Kyoto. Japan reportedly hopes to complete another deal in April with a different Eastern European country.
Japan has pledged to buy 100 million tons in carbon offsets from abroad during the 2008-2012 Kyoto period to supplement the country’s voluntary industry-led plans to improve energy efficiency and reduce fossil fuel use. In the last two years, Japan has bought the equivalent of 23.1 million tons from abroad.
Telenor standoff with Alfa takes new twist
A Siberian court seized Russian mobile assets of Norway’s Telenor, escalating the Western company’s long stand-off with Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman, Reuters reported on March 12.
Mobile telecommunications companies Telenor and Alfa have for years crossed swords over the running of Russia’s Vimpelcom and Ukrainian joint venture Kyivstar. Analysts say the best solution would be an asset swap to separate their holdings in a corporate “divorce.”
In this newest twist to their longstanding dispute, Telenor accused Fridman’s Alfa Group of trying to “steal” its stake in Russia’s No. 2 mobile group. Telenor also warns that Russia’s reputation among investors could suffer. The Norwegian government, which owns 54 percent of Telenor, said the case has become the top issue between Oslo and Moscow and vowed to do “everything possible” to protect the assets.
Alfa Group rejected any connection with the Vimpelcom case and said it was Telenor which was attempting to take over their Ukrainian mobile venture with the help of a U.S. federal court dealing with a different conflict between the two.
“This is a yet another escalation of the attempts to steal our Vimpelcom shares with the aid of Russian courts,” said Telenor’s Central and East European chief Jan Edvard Thygesen.
Arild Nysaether, analyst at broker Fondsfinans, said the conflict was reaching a climax with the seizure of Vimpelcom shares and the U.S. court ruling imposing stiff fines on Alfa.
“Both sides are in an impossible situation and that could increase chances of a solution,” Nysaether said, when asked about the chances of the mooted share swap giving a majority in Vimpelcom to Alfa and all of Kyivstar to Telenor.
Finland’s Ruuki launches new Kyiv region factory
Finland’s Ruuki construction materials group launched production at a new factory this month in Kopylov, Kyiv Oblast, where metal roofing and paneling materials will be produced. Operations of the new plant were formally launched on March 12.
Ruuki said it invested 15 million euros into the new 6.5-hectares factory, which employs 150 people at its 17 production lines.
Ruuki entered Ukraine in 1997. It currently controls four production facilities in the country. Two are located in Kyiv Oblast. The other two are in Dnipropetrovsk and Luhansk oblasts.
The group reported that revenues in Ukraine increased by nearly 35 percent last year to Hr 279 million.
Ukraine’s Arzinger law firm goes independent
Ukrainian law firm, Arzinger & Partners Ukraine, announced this month that it had become an independent law firm, breaking free of its affiliation with the Arzinger & Partners group. The Kyiv law firm said it will now be called Arzinger. Arzinger also announced it had joined several international associations of law firms, a move which enables the firm to protect clients interests in more than 100 nations.
“Prior to February 2009, we were part of Arzinger & Partners network and were able to provide services to our Ukrainian clients in Eastern European countries, Russia and Turkey,” said Arzinger’s managing partner and co-founder Sergey Shklyar. “Lately, our clients are showing more interest in markets such as Western Europe, America, China, where Arzinger & Partners does not have offices. As an independent law firm and member of [these] alliances, we’ll be able to protect our clients’ interests in all five continents.”
The law firm was founded in Kyiv in 2002, growing from four to 70 employees. It also has offices in Lviv. Arzinger’s clients include Aerosvit, Bayer AG, Blackstone, British Telecom, Bunge, Dyckerhoff, Henkel Group and System Capital Management.
Ukraine in talks to sell 50 Antonov jets
Ukraine is in talks with an undisclosed country to sell 50 passenger An-148 jets designed by the Antonov bureau, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on March 16 during a visit to Kyiv’s Aviant airplane factory.
She also said India was close to signing a contract to buy Ukrainian airplanes, but declined to name the size of the deal, and pledged that the government would renew financing this year to fund defense ministry purchases of two jets.
The Ukrainian premier also said talks were under way with banks to restructure Hr 500 million of debts owed by Aviant, one of two factories in Ukraine which produce Antonov aircraft. Kharkiv Aviation Factory also produces several versions of the Ukrainian Antonov planes, including the An-140 and Antonov 74 designs.