How the business of GAZ developed under Oleg Deripaska

Billionaire Oleg Deripaska may cease to be the main beneficiary not only of EN +, but also of the GAZ Group. It was such a version of the company's exit from US sanctions that the US authorities proposed the day before.
24.05.2018
Forbes
Origin source
The US sanctions announced in April against Oleg Deripaska and the companies under his control seriously hit him as a billionaire - in one day it fell by $ 1.3 billion. In less than two months, he lost more than $ 3 billion. Today Forbes estimates the value of Deripaska's assets at $ 3 , 6 billion versus $ 6.7 billion in March this year. Capitalization of the GAZ Group (through the "Russian machines", the businessman controls over 60% of the company), while it decreased by 40% - today it is less than 7.6 billion rubles ($ 122.6 million) on the MICEX.

From bankruptcy to bankruptcy

The blocking stake of the Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ), which later became the Group's main enterprise, as well as the controlling one in the Pavlovsk Automobile Plant (SAS) "Siberian Aluminum" (later renamed the "Basic Element"), Oleg Deripaska, 32, Immediately after this, the reorganization of enterprises that were on the verge of bankruptcy began.

At that time, the factory employed about 100 000 people, who received an average of $ 100 per month (about 2300 rubles). Up to 90% of cars were sold on barter and bill of exchange schemes.
 

The new management refused to release certain brands of cars, including pick-up trucks and off-road vehicles "Ataman". A financial audit was carried out, as a result of which a part of non-core assets were withdrawn from the JSC. The next step was to concentrate on the production of light commercial vehicles, the so-called "Gazelle" with a carrying capacity of up to 3.5 tons.

In 2003, Japanese consultants were invited to the plant, who were supposed to help introduce Toyota's production system. In addition to increasing the share of production robotization, the company introduced such simple principles as preventive maintenance of equipment.

By the middle of the 2000s, GAZ came out on breakeven indicators, and in 2005, on its basis, the GAZ Group was created. Subsequently, the group was divided into five divisions, "light commercial and passenger cars", "Buses", "Trucks", "Power components" and "Auto components".

In 2006, the group bought for $ 100 million the British company LDV Group, which specialized in the production of wagons with a carrying capacity of up to 3.5 tons under the Maxus brand. In 2008, the production of these cars began in Nizhny Novgorod. But in mid-2009 due to the crisis, production was decided to collapse. Subsequently, LDV became bankrupt and was sold to the Chinese SAIC Motor.

In the same year in 2006, the group buys from the American DaimlerChrysler assembly plant "Sterling Hills." Equipment from it was exported from the USA to Nizhny Novgorod, and from the middle of 2008 with its help began assembling Volga Siber. This project also did not become successful and at the end of 2010 production stopped.

After in February 2009, the GAZ Group made a technical default, not having executed an offer for redemption of bonds for 4.8 billion rubles, it again found itself on the verge of bankruptcy. From him, the group saved state guarantees for the state by 20 billion rubles and an agreement on the restructuring of the debt, which at that time reached 39.3 billion rubles. By early 2010, the group had completed the restructuring process. At the same time, in 2009, its net assets amounted to 27 billion rubles.

European partnership


Avoiding bankruptcy, the company developed cooperation with foreign producers. So, in December 2010, an agreement was signed with Daimler on the assembly of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter. In February 2011, the company agreed with the American GM on the assembly of Chevrolet Aveo. In the same year, GAZ started cooperation with the German Volkswagen Group, in which the assembly of Skoda and VW cars began on the basis of the Volga Siber line. This contract, which ends in 2019, was prolonged in June last year for another 6 years. It is known, in particular, that in its framework, from the middle of 2018, the supply of German 2-liter diesel engines of the ecological class "Euro-6" for the cars "Gazelle Next" is to begin.

GAZ Group's revenue under IFRS for 2017 increased by 10% (by 2016), to 164.6 billion rubles, and net profit - 3.2 times - to 3.5 billion rubles. The size of the company's loan portfolio is not disclosed, but its report said that it declined by 4.8 billion rubles during the year. The words of the President of the Group Vadim Sorokin were also quoted, which noted that the financial result of the company was the best "for the period of stagnation in the commercial transport market, which continues from 2013".

Following the results of 2017, sales of light commercial vehicles of the GAZ Group increased by 5% to 56,600 units. At the same time, according to the results of March 2018 (there are no more recent figures) GAZ Group occupies 47% of the total sales of light commercial vehicles in Russia, according to the data of the analytical agency "Autostat". In general, the share of the group in the Russian car market declined by 0.2 percentage points to 3.7% in 2017.

Six months before the personal sanctions, according to Kommersant, Oleg Deripaska planned to concentrate on managing the group, leaving the post of the president of EN + Group and Rusal controlled by him. The latter happened after April 6, when the US Treasury published the sanctions list of Russian businessmen.

On April 23, the North American agency announced that the rules of the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Treasury Department (OFAC) provide for the possibility of mitigating sanctions against Rusal if Deripaska reduces its stake in the company below the benchmark. A month later the same was announced for the GAZ Group. Otherwise, all contracts with the company and its "daughters" should be terminated on October 23, prescribed by OFAC. If in the first case the billionaire gave his principal consent, then the question of whether he will agree to give up control in the GAZ Group remains open.