Today in Russian Business

Plans by Rostekhnologii to consolidate state-controlled stakes in nearly 250 enterprises have been opposed by First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov. Norilsk Nickel, the Russian nickel producer at the centre of a takeover battle, is the first target of Environmental Investor Services, a new activist investor group which aims to put pressure on polluting companies and industries. Russian power producer OGK-6 has sold some €4.5 million ($6.83 million) of emissions reduction credits under the Kyoto Protocol to the UK-based Clean Planet Group. A Vietnamese legislator has called on Russia to increase its investment in oil and gas, energy and machinery manufacturing in the country. France’s Société Générale, which holds a controlling stake in Russia’s bank Rosbank, has offered to buy the stakes of minority shareholders. “I ask you to prepare proposals on optimization of the management of the country’s financial reserves, taking into account what is happening in the world economy,” said President Vladimir Putin, calling for better management of the country’s $484 billion gold and foreign exchange reserves.