Viktor Vekselberg has developed a plan for state support of his business

To help survive difficult times, the oligarch, who has fallen under US sanctions, will have to pay to the Russian budget and Russian taxpayers.
03.05.2018
Kommersant
Origin source
The Renova group of Viktor Vekselberg, who was under US sanctions, sent an extensive comprehensive list of support measures for his assets to the government - from refinancing loans for € 820 million taken against a 26.5% stake in Rusal, to a ban on the importation of soda and mineral water. Basically, we are talking about tariff and customs measures and granting priority in public procurement. According to Kommersant's information, the group does not expect that it will receive all the requested benefits, but will insist that working capital or significant state order is required to save jobs.

"Kommersant" became aware of the proposals "Renova", whose owner Viktor Vekselberg (like the group itself) on April 6 came under US sanctions, about supporting its business by the state. Now the list is considered in the relevant ministries - there, as in the group itself and its companies, declined to comment. Last week, Deputy Minister of Energy Alexei Texler confirmed that measures to support En + Group Oleg Deripaska and Renova are being considered. US sanctions against both businessmen and their largest companies prohibit US legal and natural persons from doing business with them, blocking dollar settlements, and so on.

The list of indulgences requested by Renova is very wide, and if adopted, they will create a separate preferential economic environment for the group. In particular, Renova is requesting refinancing in state-owned banks loans in the West for € 820 million on a 26.5% stake in Rusal, without being tied to the market value of shares in the aluminum company that "does not reflect their fundamental value," as well as refinancing assistance loans and bonds by companies of the group for up to 300 billion rubles. (subsidizing rates and state guarantees), if these companies are distributed "secondary sanctions" and they will not be able to service debts. Separately, it is proposed to allow Metkombank (among the beneficiaries - partners of Viktor Vekselberg and top managers of its structures, 80th in the Russian Federation for assets and 44th for its own capital) to lend to Renova without taking into account the H6 CBR risk standard.

Renova also asks for assistance and preferences in obtaining state orders for its industrial and development assets (see also page 9), various customs privileges. Among the latter, for example, protective import duties for competitors Novocheboksarsk "Khimprom" and zero - for raw materials for the plant, protective duties on power equipment competitors of the Ural turbine plant, as well as a complete ban on imports of beverages and water to support the "Baikal Holding." In the tariffs of the "Airports of the Regions" it is proposed to make a "risk premium for investment" in the company under sanctions of 5%.

The source of Kommersant, who is familiar with the situation, points out that the range of Renova's proposals is "as wide as possible, since they collected topics throughout the group." But it is clear that the opportunities of the state are not unlimited and support will be directed above all to the preservation of jobs in companies that are under sanctions or closely related to them, he says. This can be done through the provision of working capital and other liquidity, as well as through purchases by government agencies, Gokhran and the State Reserve (the latter, according to the interlocutor of "b", asks "Rusal"). Transactions M & A, as well as measures of tariff and customs regulation, if and will be involved, the last.

"Rusal" is not the same today

The fact that Renova had problems with foreign banks was reported by The Bell, which mentioned that Viktor Vekselberg complained to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on margin calls on loans secured by Rusal on April 17.

Rusal's shares are traded on the Hong Kong (HKeX) and Moscow stock exchanges. Capitalization of "Rusal" on HKeX on May 2 amounted to 33.88 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $ 4.3 billion, on the Moscow stock exchange - 455.8 billion rubles., Or $ 7.14 billion. Thus, 26.5% of "Rusal" cost on the market $ 1.13-1.9 billion. But on April 16, the capitalization of "Rusal" in Moscow fell to $ 4.7 billion, and on HKeX on April 18 - and to $ 2.75 billion, which gave a cost of 26.5% in the range $ 0.73-1.24 billion

Although the proposal "Renova" refers to the pledge of all 26.5% of the shares of "Rusal", owned by Sual Partners and Zonoville Investments Ltd - the joint companies of Viktor Vekselberg and Leonard Blavatnik, the speech about the purchase of the stake by Mr. Blavatnik (US and UK resident) goes, says the source of "b". Businessmen do not have control packages in these structures, there are junior partners, he explains (this is confirmed by HKeX data). Leonard Blavatnik is a co-owner of the energy company T Plus and Energoprom Management (EPM, the shares are not disclosed). The break-up of the partnership is not discussed, sources of "Kommersant" assure. US sanctions assumed the exit of US residents from the debt and equity securities of the companies until May 7 (on May 1, for RusAl, En + and GAZ Group Oleg Deripaska, the term was extended until June 6).

In what banks Sual and Zonoville laid the shares of Rusal, the interlocutor of Kommersant did not specify, but noted that it is not supposed to refinance loans in VTB and Sberbank, which fear secondary sanctions, but in credit organizations "which do not at all have sanctions" . For example, the source of Kommersant did not refute the assumption that it could be, for example, Rossiya Bank (on the black list, co-owned by Yuri Kovalchuk) and Promsvyazbank (PSB), which is oriented toward working with the defense industry and sub-investment companies. To receive comments of Access Industries of Mr. Blavatnik it was not possible.

Under the roof of Gazprom

Trying to protect itself from sanctions, Renova is ready to withdraw from control over its energy business, returning to the idea of ​​T Plus association (the sixth-largest power company of the Russian Federation, 15.8 GW) with Gazprom Energoholding (GEF, market leader, 39.3 GW). The deal was discussed back in 2011, then it was assumed that Renova would receive a blocking stake, but the merger was blocked by the FAS. Now the service says that while they are not familiar with the proposal of Renova, they do not comment on the issue at the State Duma. Sources of Kommersant did not hear about new negotiations at the energy market, but they believe that the FAS will also oppose this time.

In "Renova" also fear the risks of servicing power equipment. The group requests that T Plus be insured in case Siemens and GE fail to comply with service obligations and release the energy company from fines for non-delivery of capacity in such cases. In GE, "K" was not answered, Siemens said that they did not comment on individual contracts. "T Plus" also requests "to resolve the situation" in the Komi Republic. In 2016, the general director of the energy company Boris Vainzikher and the head of its board of directors, partner Vekselberg, Yevgeny Olkhovik, became the defendants in the case of bribes in the region (they keep their posts, but are under house arrest). What exactly the "settlement" implies, Renova does not explain in its request.

For "Hevela" (JV "Renova" with "Rosnano", engaged in solar energy), a restructuring of the debt to "Rosnano" for ten years with a vacation on repayment in the first three years without a bank guarantee and with a reduction in the rate was proposed. Sources "Kommersant" call the debt to "Rosnano" "significant" and note that the delay can positively affect the operating activities. Renova also asks to write off part of the debt of the developing countries to the Russian Federation (this, according to Kommersant, is about the countries of Africa and the CIS) in order to activate their contracts with Hevel and increase the volume of the solar generation market in Russia by another 5 GW to 2035 year. Sources "Kommersant" specify that the accelerated exit of "Renova" or "Rosnano" from "Hevel" is not discussed.

For UTZ, which is part of the ROTEK holding company, Renova asks to guarantee contracts for equipment - for example, on the "power island" for waste incineration plants of Rostecha, turbines for nuclear icebreakers, two steam turbines for the Amur TPP, turbines for Cuba, Iran and India.

Individual economic regime

The most detailed "Renova" registered in its proposals for public procurement and tariff and customs support measures. For example, for the EPM, the monopoly producer of graphitized electrodes (GE) required for steelmaking, the group asks for protective duties on products from the EU and the US, increasing export duties and introducing quotas for low-sulfur petroleum coke and coal tar removal quotas. But GE is needed for electric furnaces, it's about a third of steel in the Russian Federation, and, as Kommersant wrote, in the fall of 2017 metallurgists complained to the FAS on EPM because of the rise in cost of the electrodes.

And metallurgists have already put forward opposite proposals: on April 27, the head of the Russian Steel Association, the owner of NLMK Vladimir Lisin, in a letter to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov (Kommersant) reported that the sanctions would lead to the refusal of foreigners from supply of needle coke. Under the conditions of full dependence of EPM on imports from Britain and Japan, this will create a threat of stopping the production of GE in Russia and interruptions in the smelting of steel at more than 35 sites, Mr. Lisin wrote. In the "Russian Steel" as a result, it is proposed to abolish import duties on the GoE for the period of sanctions and prevent the re-introduction of anti-dumping duties for electrodes from India. EPM has been assured that they can purchase needle coke from "partners in the PRC" and do not expect difficulties or interruptions. The proposals of Russian Steel in the EPM were called "speculation in the situation", adding that the cancellation of duties "would jeopardize the existence" of the company due to the dumping of producers from other countries.

To support the Ekaterinburg Non-Ferrous Metals Processing Plant (EOZCM, 96% of Renova's shares), contracts are offered with Rostekh, Rosnano and Rosatom, deliveries to Gokhran, Moscow and St. Petersburg Mints, as well as protection duties on the export of scrap and waste with precious metals. EOZMM for several years does not publish reports, in 2015, exports gave the plant 90% of the 23 billion rubles. proceeds. In 2016, based on the EOZMM, the Plaurum Group was created with assets in Russia and abroad, its annual turnover at the level of € 400 million.

Among the measures for the holding of the "Airports of the Regions" (Koltsovo airports in Yekaterinburg, Kurumoch in Samara, Strigino in Nizhny Novgorod and Platov in Rostov-on-Don, the passenger traffic in 2017 - almost 12 million people) Renova asks to change investment agreements and extend deadlines construction of airports in Kamchatka and in Novy Urengoy. In their modernization, the holding planned to invest more than 14 billion rubles. At the expense of the budget, it is proposed to build a border crossing point and a new platform in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, at the Saratov airport (the holding will invest 8 billion rubles) - a checkpoint across the border and issue 860 million rubles. on the airfield in this, and not in 2020.

In addition, as a year ago, in a letter from Viktor Vekselberg to Vladimir Putin (see "Kommersant" dated March 27, 2017), Renova insists on supporting the "Airports of the Regions" by differentiating VAT for regional flights through Moscow and directly bypassing the capital . Also it is a question of cancellation of privileges of airlines on the VAT on service of planes. All these measures may be relevant for Basel Aero, the airport holding company of Oleg Deripaska.

As far as each of the support measures is essential for Renova and critical for its competitors, it is still difficult to assess. A number of them, for example, a ban on the import of lemonade and mineral water, are likely, even if adopted, not to have a significant impact, but will not damage the market. The head of the Union of Soft Drink Producers Maxim Novikov estimated the share of imports in the Russian market at 2-3% (this is Dr Pepper, water Evian, Perrier, etc.). According to the Federal Customs Service, from February 2017 to February 2018, these drinks were imported to the country for $ 95.8 million. Of the EU countries, France contributed 20.7 million dollars (the share in imports was 21.6%), followed by Italy ($ 10.4 million and 10.8% respectively), Slovenia ($ 3.3 million and 3.5%).

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