Gleb Frank got control over the largest pollock goalkeeper

He will buy out the share of his partner Maxim Vorobyov.
27.02.2018
Vedomosti
Origin source
Gleb Frank will buy the share of Maxim Vorobyov, the brother of the governor of the Moscow region, in OOO Russian Fishery Company (RRPK) and will become its controlling owner, the company said. "Maxim and I created the RRPK seven years ago and together we passed a difficult path to the company's leadership positions in the Russian market. I am grateful to him for this ", - quotes the company Frank.

Trading company "Russian Sea" was the brainchild of the current governor of the Moscow region Andrew Vorobyov, wrote in 2013, the magazine Forbes. After he seriously engaged in politics and retired, the fish business was taken up by his younger brother, Maxim. In 2002, Andrei sold his shares to Maxim.

In the crisis of 2009, the "Russian Sea" conducted an IPO, failed - funds were attracted less than planned. The company lost revenue, and in May 2011, the capitalization of the "Russian Sea" reached the bottom, but the business was helped by a new investor - Gennady Timchenko: his fund, together with the company Vorobyev, created a structure that on parity basis received 60.9% of the "Russian Sea ". The idea to invest in the "Russian Sea" was not owned by Timchenko himself, namely Frank, his son-in-law, who became interested in fish after meeting Maxim Vorobyov, Forbes reported. In 2014, Mr .. Timchenko sold Frank share in the company.

In 2011, Frank and Vorobyev created a new company called "Russian Sea - mining" (later renamed the RRPK) - for the extraction of wild fish. Subsequently, the company acquired several pollock production enterprises, and now RRPK is one of the largest companies in Russia for the production of Pacific fish, pollock and herring. In the pollock market, the most massive and profitable Russian fish, RRPC takes the first place in Russia and the third in the world, according to the company's own data. And in May 2017, she won the Rosrybolovstvo auction for a new type of fishery - crab mining.

Stayed with salmon

In 2013-2015 years. "The Russian Sea" (later became the "Russian aquaculture") was experiencing difficulties. In August 2014, Russia, in response to Western sanctions, banned the import of food from Western countries, including fish from Norway. It accounted for over 80% of the total fish imports, which was then sold by the distribution division of the Russian Aquaculture, the Russian Fish Company (RRK). Due to rising prices, demand for fish also fell. There were also losses from diseases of salmon fish, which the company grew on its farms. RRK was sold, and the main business of "Russian aquaculture" was the cultivation of salmon and trout.

Frank was disappointed in the aquaculture business, his acquaintances told. The share in the "Russian aquaculture", he began to reduce and in September 2016 finally sold it. The main shareholder of the "Russian Aquaculture" is Vorobyov.

Vorobyov told Vedomosti that by selling a stake in the RRPK, he will focus on venture and high-tech investments, the development of Russian aquaculture and other projects. The "Russian Aquaculture" has ambitious goals - it intends to enter the world's top 10 in the production of red fish, the company said.

Remained with pollack

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the shares in the RRDP are distributed as follows: Frank has 45.25%, Vorobyov has 44.7%, and another 5.48% - from the general director of the RRPK Andrei Teterkin. The remaining 4.57% owned by RMD Juva, which is 100% owned by the RRPK. Consequently, upon completion of the transaction, Frank will have almost 90% of the company. The deal will include shares in other legal entities of the RRPK, the company said. Now the RRPK faces great challenges: modernization of the fleet and construction of new vessels, expansion of the geography of the presence and search for new channels for the sale of products, Franke was quoted by the press service of the RRPK.

RRPK has indeed been talking about a large development program lately. In 2017, she signed an agreement with Russian shipyards on the construction of six trawlers under the state program of investment quotas, the contract allows the construction of two more trawlers. This will increase the quota of RRPK by 150,000-200,000 tons. The total investment in the new fleet will be about $ 900 million. The RRPK intends to invest more than $ 30 million in coastal processing capacities and increase the share of fish fillets in production.

What does the crab do with it?

Negotiations on the sale of shares in the RRPK began as early as last year and lasted about six months, says the acquaintance of Vorobyov and Frank. Approximately in this period in November 2017 there was a crab scandal: unknown senders suggested to President Vladimir Putin to reform the crab market - to replace the historical principle of allocation of quotas for auctions. The president instructed to work out this issue.

Interviewed by Vedomosti, several market participants believed that the letter was sent by representatives of the RRPK. Officials, owners of crab quotas, regional leaders began to defend the historical principle: abandoning it will destroy the industry and bankrupt enterprises that have already paid quotas. Whether the principle will change, it is not decided yet. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told a meeting of workers of the fisheries complex on February 26 that he instructed the Russian Fisheries Ministry and the Ministry of Agriculture to submit calculations and arguments concerning the change of principle.

Officially RRPK always replied that it was not she who wrote the letter. The management of the company had no relation to this initiative, they say to Vedomosti and two people close to the shareholders.

But there was a disagreement between the owners of the RRPK about the management of the fish business, the familiar of both knows. The initiative to ask the president to replace the historical principle of quota allocation for the crab auctions could come from Vorobyov, and Frank and the management of the company might not be aware, said Vedomosti's interlocutor, perhaps this was the last point after which the partners decided to disperse.

Representatives of Frank assured: disagreements and conflicts were not. Both Frank and Vorobyov still have a big fish business, but they are not comparable in size, says the vice president of the Fish Association Alexei Aronov: Russia produces about 5 million tons of wild fish, and only 200,000 tons per year are grown in aquaculture. Dvorkovich at the fishermen's convention said that aquaculture will not be the dominant, but rather complementary business.

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