©Bloomberg Rough diamonds mined by Alrosa Russia’s government has sold a 10.9 per cent stake in diamond miner Alrosa for Rbs52.2bn ($814m) as part of a privatisation programme aimed at plugging the country’s budget deficit. Investors paid Rbs65 a share for a stake in the world’s largest diamond producer, according to Dmitry Pristanskov, director of the Russian federal property agency that owns state assets. More On this topic IN Mining One person close to the share placement said the Russian Direct Investment Fund, a fund that promotes inward investment, acquired about half of the Alrosa stock sold by the government, in partnership with Asian, Middle Eastern and western investors. More than 100 investors bought stock in the placement, according to Andrei Shemetov, head of global markets at Sberbank CIB, lead manager on the deal. Russia, a leading oil producer, has been hit hard by the plunge in crude prices since mid-2014, and the government is selling stakes in state-owned companies to plug the hole in its finances. “Without privatisation deals it would be difficult to finance the budget deficit,” said deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov. He added oil producer Bashneft and shipping company Sovcomflot would be partially privatised later this year. Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil producer, could follow. Other companies, whose leaders met president Vladimir Putin when he announced the privatisation programme in February, including Aeroflot and VTB Bank, are not expected to go to market until next year, if at all. With the exception of Bashneft — which was controversially renationalised in 2014 as its oligarch owner was placed under house arrest — the government does not intend to surrender controlling stakes in privatised companies, said Alexei Moiseev, deputy finance minister. Alrosa, which operates enormous mines in the far eastern region of Yakutia, is a bellwether for the privatisation programme’s success in the face of US and EU sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. Sberbank and VTB, whose investment arm co-managed the deal, are among the companies affected by the sanctions. The Alrosa deal did not fall foul of the sanctions, which limit certain Russian companies’ access to western capital markets. However, the US government has expressed concerns that the privatisation programme could be used to finance Russian companies affected by the sanctions. Russian and European investors each bought about a third of the Alrosa shares available in the placement, said Boris Kvasov, director of equity capital markets at VTB Capital. Middle Eastern and Asian investors bought 20 per cent of the shares, and US investors five per cent, he added. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016. You may share using our article tools. Please don’t cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Source link

Eight of the 27 projects to be awarded Contracts for Difference (CfD) in the first auction have passed their milestone requirements according to the Low Carbon Contracts Company (LCCC). In February the LCCC announced that four of the projects had met their requirements. It has now announced that a further four have met theirs too. They are: BH Energy Gap’s 26MW energy from waste plant in Walsall; Energy Works’ 25 MW energy from waste plant in Hull; CGN Europe Energy’s 45 MW Brenig onshore wind farm at Denbigh in Wales; and Cambridgeshire County Council’s 9.9MW Triangle Farm solar park. The four projects which passed their milestones previously are: Enviropark’s 11MW energy from waste plant at Hirwuan in Wales; Whirlwind Renewables’ 10MW Achlachan onshore wind farm in Scotland; TCI Renewables’ 6.15MW Common Barn onshore wind farm in Cambridgeshire; and Banks Renewables’ 16.4MW Moor House onshore wind farm in County Durham. So far the total capacity of projects from the first CfD auction which have met their requirements is just under 150MW.  Source link

A series of top performing firms have been shortlisted as nominees for this year’s ECA Annual Awards, following a rigorous judging process conducted by an independent panel of eight experts.   In total, some 34 entries have been shortlisted as nominees for the ECA Annual Awards 2016, spread across eight award categories, which include ‘Contractor of the Year’, ‘Best Client/Contractor Partnership’, and ‘Best Health and Safety Initiative’. Among those shortlisted include a number of firms who were strong runners at last year’s awards, including Quartzelec, Dodd Group, and Darke & Taylor. ECA director of business and the annual awards head judge, Paul Reeve commented: “Following a record number of entries this year, the independent judging panel had some tough decisions to make to identify the 34 shortlisted nominees. There were some really good entries this year, with strong stories about company success and best practice in our industry”. A record-breaking 142 award entries were received for this year’s ECA’s Annual Awards, which were carefully considered by industry figures including JTL’s director of operations Caroline Turner, Cedia’s executive director Wendy Griffiths, and Electrical Industries Charity managing director Tessa Ogle. The eight award winners will be announced at the ECA Annual Gala Dinner and Awards, supported by headline sponsor LEDVANCE, on Friday 8 July at Celtic Manor, South Wales. Attendees will enjoy an evening of entertainment hosted by Alan Dedicoat – the voice of The National Lottery and Strictly Come Dancing – alongside top comedian Stephen K. Amos. There are now limited spaces remaining – to book your place, please visit www.eca.co.uk.   Source link

Slumping steel prices have contributed to overall low levels of materials prices at the start of the year, with fabricated structural steel prices for March reaching its lowest index level on record at 81.9. But both bricks and concrete showed signs of increasing, with ready-mixed concrete still well ahead of prices reported last year. In February, overall materials prices hit their lowest level since March 2011, but the latest data suggests that prices are beginning to show signs of increasing again. Data for March points to BIS’ price index reaching 107.0 – the highest level since November last year. However, this is still well below the highs of 111.5 reported in March 2014, and is also well shy of last year’s average level of 108.9.     Source link