The state corporation Rostek has found a new private investor for the problem concern Tractor Plants (KTZ). They will become a machine-building holding "Transport Components" in partnership with the subsidiary structure of Rostek itself. Future owners face a difficult task: attempts to improve the financial situation in KTZ have failed so far, and its debts reach 100 billion rubles.

Rostek has developed a new scheme for removing the KTZ from the crisis, told Kommersant two sources familiar with the situation. At a board meeting of the state corporation on April 18, a decision was approved to attract an investor in the face of Transport Components (TK) holding. "The company's shares will be sold to the new owner at symbolic cost, as KTZ is burdened with serious debts," one of Kommersant's sources explained. "The investor is committed to resolving the shortage of working capital and restructuring debts by buying them from Vnesheconombank."

The TC includes about 20 transport engineering companies. Officially, the owners of the holding are not disclosed, the corresponding LLC is owned by the Cyprus "Tadoryx Consultants Limited", the owner of Transmashdizel. But it is known that this is the partner of Transmashholding Andrey Bokarev and Iskandar Mahmudov. The Board of Directors of the TC is headed by the former top manager of Transmashholding Alexander Noskov.

The actual holder of the KTZ shares will be a new subsidiary structure of the TC, where 33% will receive "High-Precision Complexes" (included in Rostekh). The next stage will be the division of KTZ into divisions: eight military enterprises will be transferred under full control of Rosteha (represented by "High-Precision Complexes"). The civil component of the KTZ (26 plants) will remain with the TC. Legally, the deal is scheduled to be completed in the first half of the year. Contact with the TC was not possible, VEB refused to comment.

The financial problems of KTZ, then controlled by Mikhail Bolotin and Albert Bakov, began in 2010, when VEB became a major creditor of the concern. Since then, they have only worsened, and all attempts at financial recovery have failed. According to the source of Kommersant in the government apparatus, in 2013-2014 the concern began to "fail" in the supply of civilian products, being kept afloat due to a stable order from the Ministry of Defense. But soon KTZ began to break the contract with a foreign customer, after which the state of the concern was closely monitored by the government. As a result, in the fall of 2017, after a long mess, KTZ actually moved under the management of Rostecha.

During this time, according to "Kommersant", KTZ accumulated debts of more than 100 billion rubles., Of which 84 billion rubles. VEB and 4 billion rubles to Rostekh enterprises. Since October 2017, with respect to certain assets of the KTZ, VEB initiated bankruptcy proceedings, and also announced its intention to declare bankruptcy of Machinery & Industrial Group N.V. (the Dutch subsidiary of the KTZ) and personally the masters of Bolotin and Bakov.

"The reasons for this state of affairs are the problems of the machine-building industry as a whole and incorrect management decisions. For many years, KTZ has been in debt, increasing the volume of credit obligations against the pledge of assets, which led to the inability to service debts and its actual collapse, "Sergei Chemezov, the head of Rostek, explained to Kommersant, confirming that the new investor of KTZ will be the TC. In his view, the new scheme will allow launching "milder procedures for financial recovery," where Rostekh and the investor will receive "the necessary legal control." "This opens up opportunities for prompt financing of the needs of enterprises to pay salaries, fulfill contracts in the field of defense contracts and military-technical cooperation," the head of Rostechi believes.

The civil component of the KTZ, according to Chemezov, is experiencing difficulties with replenishing working capital and concluding new contracts. "The credit line allocated by VEB to save the situation during the transition period allows paying salaries and financing individual items of current expenses, but there was a real risk that a number of large sites could stop by the summer," he explained. "That's why we were interested in attracting partner, ready to assume the financing of the operating activities of these enterprises ". The state corporation emphasizes that attracting an investor means reducing the burden on the budget "in terms of financing the working capital of crisis enterprises."

The scheme is supported by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry: "The appearance of a private investor capable of supporting an enterprise that produces an important range of land forces equipment can not but rejoice. After the recovery of the KTZ, the rate will be made for the consolidation of machine building, since the same Uralvagonzavod (the manufacturer of tanks and wagons.-Kommersant) is already part of Rostekh's contour.

Mikhail Bolotin declined to comment. However, the source of Kommersant, who is familiar with the situation, stressed that "the factories are working, there is no salary debt." According to him, Mikhail Bolotin will receive a blocking stake in the civil division of the concern. However, it was not possible to confirm this information.

As a result of the transformation, the military division of KTZ will actually become a sub-holding of "High-Precision Complexes", and the functions and contracts of Kurganmashzavod will be taken over by another Rostekha enterprise - the Tula Instrument Design Bureau (developer of Pantsir-C1 anti-aircraft missile systems). It is believed that this enterprise is financially stable, and it already cooperates with the Kurgan plant. The production and personnel of Kurganmashzavod in Kurgan and Volgograd will be formally reassigned to the Tula enterprise. In "Rosteha" they say that the scheme was supported in the government and by the Ministry of Defense. The military source of "Kommersant" assured that the ministry will do "everything possible to preserve the order on its own line." In the new state armament program until 2027, emphasis is placed on the rearmament of general-purpose forces, which are important to equip with new armored vehicles, said Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies. In his opinion, in the case of the KTZ Rostech is guided by the successful experience of the Kalashnikov concern, which was created on the basis of the rescued Izhmash with the participation of private investors.