Igor Zyuzin wants to retire

Mechel is considering acquiring or creating APFs.
13.02.2019
Kommersant
Origin source
A number of large employers are interested in acquiring non-state pension funds (NPF) or creating new ones. In particular, such an interest is shown by Mechel. However, entry into the pension market is difficult - there are few NPFs ready for sale, and creating a fund from scratch is expensive. Previously, there was an opposite tendency - large corporations, on the contrary, got rid of their private pension funds.

As it became known to “Kommersant”, the metallurgical company Mechel thought about returning to the NPF market. This was told by three people associated with various private foundations who communicated with representatives of the MMC on the sale of private pension funds. A Mechel official denies holding such talks. The interlocutors of “Kommersant” claim that the NPFs with which the company communicated are different: some of them work only on non-state pension coverage (NGOs), others on compulsory pension insurance (OPS). However, the assets of these funds are small - no more than 10 billion rubles. at the end of last year. “So far, Mechel is set at 100% of the fund and does not want to see minority shareholders in it,” says one source for Kommersant.

Mechel is a major employer, the number of employees of the group is about 60 thousand people. The controlling shareholder of Mechel is Igor Zyuzin, whose structures previously owned NPF Mechel-Fund. However, in mid-2014, the fund was sold to Yevgeny Novitsky, former co-owner of AFK Sistema, who created his retirement group. Like all other NPFs of Mr. Novitsky, “Mechel-Foundation” in 2016 did not initially enter the system of guaranteeing the rights of insured persons, and then it had its license withdrawn (see “Kommersant” dated June 23, 2016).

Other large corporations and their shareholders in 2012–2017 also left the founders of private pension funds. This was done by LUKOIL, MMC Norilsk Nickel, Severstal. The last major deal was the sale by the structures of the owner of NLMK Vladimir Lisin to the Social Development Fund. At the same time, a number of corporations have maintained contact with their private pension funds, in particular, Gazprom, Russian Railways, ALROSA, Rosneft, Transneft, and UMMC.

As they say two interlocutors of “Kommersant”, “Mechel” now wants to become the owner of the NPF for the resumption of the corporate program. “They are also interested in the possibility of transferring funds to the fund in the fund. Not only employees, but also their family members, ”says one of them. Another source, “Kommersant” adds that the group wanted to buy a license - the assets were not important to her, so she was looking for a cheap fund, “lying on its side.” “We did not agree on the price,” he adds. A similar situation last year was with Sistema, which was also looking for a cheap fund (see Kommersant on June 13, 2018) and, as the source close to the holding said, was going to form a program for its employees (more than 140 thousand . person) on NGOs and develop OPS for them. Interest in the pension market in addition to control over the social function, according to two interlocutors of “Kommersant”, may also be due to the ability to invest a limited portion of pension funds in assets associated with the owner.

According to the head of the ANPF Committee for Small and Regional Funds, Alexei Morozov, it makes sense to have your own captive NPF if the number of employees in the company is at least 5 thousand people. At the same time for the recoupment of the fund its assets must exceed 1 billion rubles. “This indicator can be achieved in three to four years,” says Mr. Morozov. However, according to him, the desire of employers to have their own fund is limited by the number of current NPFs (currently there are 52 funds), especially ready for sale. In addition, “the new shareholder must simultaneously contribute 250 million rubles. in the capital of NPFs (from 2020 own funds should be 200 million rubles - “Kommersant”), ”the expert states.

Changing rules of the game, expensive entry into the market - all this limits the interest of new players in the pension market. “Today, an employer with an intention to develop corporate pension programs is more interested in choosing (already existing. -“ Kommersant ”) NPF from the standpoint of the quality of services provided, efficiency of investment activities and the amount of own funds, than from the position of entering the NPF capital,” Oleg Moshlyak, Commercial Director of Sberbank NPF. According to him, this is confirmed by the trend of recent years, "when the NPF, which was a non-core asset for the employer, was transferred under the control of large financial institutions or ceased its activities."

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