OREANDA-NEWS. TMK, one of the world's largest oil and gas pipe producers and the market leader of the Russian pipe industry, on November 13 announced that the OAO TMK Board of Directors has decided to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) in the form of an absentee ballot on December 25, 2007.

According to the company's press service, the list of shareholders eligible to participate in the EGM and entitled to dividend has been drawn up in concordance with the shareholder registry as of November 8, 2007.

The OAO TMK Board of Directors has recommended that shareholders approve interim dividends, for the first 9 months of 2007, of RUR 3.63 per share (approximately USD 0.60 per GDR). A total of RUR 3,168,993,630 (approximately USD 130 mln) will be paid out as dividend by February 24, 2008. This amount corresponds to TMK's policy to pay dividends amounting to at least 25% of its annual IFRS consolidated net profits.

Other matters to be considered will concern the approval of transactions associated with the financing of TMK's Strategic Investment Programme and the restructuring of the Company's and its subsidiaries' credit portfolios. As part of a long-term programme to transfer external borrowings from the subsidiary level to the OAO TMK level, the Company plans to replace short-term bank loans made to its subsidiaries with long-term loans from OAO TMK.

Voting will also concern the company's guarantee for its subsidiary, Seversky Tube Works (STZ), regarding a loan from France's Societe Generale to partially finance the acquisition of a Fine Quality Mill (FQM) from Italy's Danieli. TMK is to guarantee the repayment of the loan in the amount of EUR 88,655,000 plus interest, commissions, and all other payments, with a total value amounting to more than 2% of TMK's balance sheet, determined by accounting report data, as of September 30, 2007.

A number of additional matters pertaining to the company's operations were also reviewed during the Board meeting.