By John Helmer, Moscow Alrosa, Russia’s state diamond monopoly, will be ready to hold an initial public offering (IPO) by late 2011 for a 20% stake in the company, Alrosa’s chief executive Fyodor Andreyev said cryptically on the sidelines of a Moscow investor conference on Wednesday. But will international investors be ready to buy shares […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
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By John Helmer, Moscow A Moscow newspaper claims today to have seen a document confirming that Russia’s diamond-mining monopoly Alrosa is trying to sell a 50% stake in the Lomonosov diamond field to Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining company based in London. Alrosa is the largest producer of diamonds in the world at present; Rio […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow No major shareholder obstacles now stand in the way of the reorganization of Alrosa’s corporate structure, but conversion to the open shareholding company format will take another six months, company spokesman Andrei Polyakov told Polishedprices.com today.

by John Helmer - Monday, December 20th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow Negotiations between Surat Rough Diamond Sourcing Ltd (SRDSIL), one of the largest cutters and polishers of diamonds in the world, are under way with Alrosa and the Russian state stockpile agency Gokhran. And just a few days after they began in Moscow, the Indian move has triggered an unusual domestic protest. […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, November 11th, 2010
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By John Helmer, Moscow One of every ten dollars Alrosa is hoping to borrow from investors this month has been provisionally set aside to advertise Alrosa at the next three Olympic Games – London, Sochi, and Rio de Janeiro. This is the largest purse of Russian philanthropy, advertising, or giveaway ever publicly offered to western […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, October 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Sakha government has agreed to a reorganization of the Alrosa shareholding, legalizing open-market trading of Alrosa shares for the first time, and promising a privatization of state-owned shares soon. The Yakuts will not agree, however, to privatizing more than 20% to 25% of Alrosa shares; the federal government and […]

by John Helmer - Friday, September 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow A Moscow brokerage named Metropol has recommended buying Alrosa shares with the promise of a 72% upside in value. But there’s a catch. At present, it isn’t quite legal for those who don’t already own shares in the closed joint stock company form of Alrosa to buy and sell them.

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 9th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who also chairs the supervisory board of state diamond miner Alrosa, is considering selling rough diamonds from the state stockpile more than a year earlier than has been forecast by the stockpile agency, Gokhran. It is unclear whether Kudrin is trying to lower the price […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow In the last three months of 2009, according to the federal Ministry of Finance in Moscow, Russia exported about 250,000 carats of rough diamonds, produced by Alrosa, to the west African republic of Guinea. There is no known diamond cutting or polishing facility in Guinea, and Russia has never exported […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 30th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – chapter 7 – A Mad Tea-Party

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 13th, 2010
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