As it became known to Kommersant, Peter Baskakov, who headed TransContainer for 12 years, is leaving the post of general director. Sources of Kommersant will be labeled in his place by a manager close to Enisey Capital, Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov. But analysts believe that losing Mr. Baskakov and replacing him with any figure affiliated with minority shareholders is a bad sign for potential participants in the privatization of Transcontainer. It drags on, but the first signs of the restoration of activity have already appeared - the head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov asks the new vice-premier Maxim Akimov to convene a meeting on this topic.
According to "Kommersant", in the PJSC "Transcontainer" in the near future may change management. Peter Baskakov, who holds the post of general director since the company's registration in 2006, will leave the post. Three sources on the market told Kommersant about this. According to one of them, Mr. Baskakov has not yet written a statement, but the issue has already been resolved. Another interlocutor says that the statement was written the other day. The departure of Peter Baskakov for the interlocutors of "Kommersant" in the market was a complete surprise. Mr. Baskakov himself did not give comments to "Kommersant".
According to one of the interlocutors of Kommersant, Peter Baskakov announced informally on the PAO board of directors at the end of March about plans to depart from the leadership. Who will take his place, has not yet been decided, he clarifies. Another source of Kommersant reports that in late April, Yenisei Capital Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov, who bought 24.5% of Transcontainer at the end of 2017, sent a letter to the head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozerov with a proposal to change management of PJSC, suggesting options for replacement . The fact that the company can be headed by a manager close to "Yenisei Capital" is spoken by three interlocutors of Kommersant.
In "Transcontainer" they refused to comment, specifying that the replacement of the general director in the competence of the board of directors. The interlocutor of Kommersant, close to the council, specifies that while the meeting on this issue has not been scheduled. What Pyotr Baskakov will do after leaving Transcontainer, the interlocutors of Kommersant do not know, but one of them said that the top manager received an invitation to the transport holding company created by Invest AG Alexander Abramov. In JSC Russian Railways (owns 50% plus two shares of Transcontainer, assigned to privatization) and in the group "Sum" (25.07% of the operator) declined to comment.
The dialogue on the privatization of the controlling stake, which has been dragging on for an indefinite period, is renewing. According to Kommersant's information, in late May, the head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, in a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov suggested convening a meeting on this issue and discussing the qualification requirements for buyers. Mr. Akimov's office confirmed the receipt of the letter, adding that the matter is being worked through in the government apparatus.
Discussion of privatization of Transcontainer intensified in 2016, after the owner of Suma Ziyavudin Magomedov, now accused of organizing a criminal community, offered to buy out a controlling stake in TransContainer and create a national container operator on its basis. In April 2017, Vladimir Putin instructed the government to analyze the feasibility of the sale, and the agencies, after studying the issue, decided to sell the package in an open tender. Among the applicants, except for "Sumy" (now the group does not plan any acquisitions), they called UCL Holding Vladimir Lisin with the international partner MSC, RFPI, the French CMA CGM with Logoper, Global Ports and Delo Sergey Shishkarev. The interest of Yenisei Capital to the asset in February was confirmed by Alexander Abramov.
The head of Infoline Analytics, Mikhail Burmistrov, says that it will be very difficult to replace Peter Baskakov: there are practically no figures of this scale on the market, and the experience of creating from scratch "Transcontainer" determines its value for the company as the manager and the leader of the team. And the appointment of a manager who will be clearly connected with any of the minority private shareholders will become a negative signal for potential buyers of the controlling stake and contradicts the task of maximizing its value, the expert believes.