Today in Russian Business

A new report by a Russian institute says that Russian industry is feeling the shortage of equipment and manpower. French carmaker Peugeot Citroen will sign an agreement to build an assembly plant at Kaluga in Russia. The size of the pension and mutual fund industry in Latin America, Russia and the Asian countries excluding Japan was $900 billion in 2006, up from about $200 billion in 2002, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OAO Magnit, Russia’s second-largest supermarket chain, will hire Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley to underwrite a share sale that will fund expansion. Russian cellphone operator Vimpelcom has received commitment letters from banks for a $3.5 billion loan which will be used to back its acquisition of Golden Telecom. France’s Societe Generale insists it will close a deal to take a controlling stake in Rosbank in the next two weeks, after analysts cautioned that the scandal-hit bank may find it difficult to complete the acquisition. August Meyer, the US co-owner of St. Petersburg-based supermarket chain Lenta, is seeking to recover his stake in the company after his Russian business partner, Oleg Zherebtsov, replaced the CEO in an apparent attempt to gain control.