Yulia Fedorinova
What Rostekhnologii plans to do with its 426 enterprises
As the crisis reaches its peak, Rostekhnologii is taking over 426 enterprises whose debt exceeds 120 billion roubles. The state corporation hopes for state help.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed a resolution transferring assets approved by President Dmitry Medvedev's decree of July 10 to Rostekhnologii, said several sources in the corporation. The order is numbered 873 and dated November 24, said one of the Vedomosti sources. Now Rostekhnologii can finally enter into ownership of these enterprises, said Alexei Alyoshin, its deputy director. Shares will take three months to hand over, he said, while unitary enterprises, which need to be incorporated, will require 1.5 to 2 years.
According to the resolution, Rostekhnologii can exercise its shareholding rights even now. Voting instructions to state representatives at shareholder meetings will be written in accordance with Rostekhnologii's policy, Alyoshin said. According to him, Rostekhnologii is currently nominating representatives to company boards - this right of the corporation is stipulated in the resolution.
Mr Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, declined to comment.
Rostekhnologii is coming into its own at the height of the crisis, and many assets are not in the best of shape. Accounts payable total no less than 100 billion roubles, including 20 billion roubles in budget arrears. This does not include the debts of 11 companies that will join the Rosavia holding (the state corporation will have a controlling stake in it). In the first six months of 2008, the combined debts of three of these companies (KrasAir, Samara and Saratov Airlines) surpassed 18 billion roubles. In October, KrasAir and Samara Airlines suspended flights because of the debts.
The corporation's representatives were unable to give figures for earnings or profits (and losses) expected in 2009 due to a lack of information on the assets obtained. Nor does the corporation know the exact size of its debt, which needs calculating, said a source in Rostekhnologii. The state is not expected to make a money contribution to the corporation.
Initially, the corporation planned to earn its own way, through developer projects and otherwise. This spring, the corporation purchased a 6% stake in Mosinzhstroi and planned a National Aviation Centre in Zhukovsky, where it planned to move design bureaus and aircraft building plants from Moscow and develop their vacated territories. In October, Rostekhnologii co-founded an open market for building investments (with a 25% stake). The market will trade in liabilities of building companies from Moscow and the surrounding region (debts, agreements on co-investment, equity participation, etc.). Finally, Rostekhnologii has obtained property from the state, a piece of cultural heritage at the address: 22 Sofiiskaya Naberezhnaya, Bld.1 (which now houses AvtoVAZ's Moscow office), the Dzerzhinsky Sanatorium in Sochi, and a number of land plots.
With the crisis going on, one should not expect a breakthrough, corporation sources told Vedomosti. Other assets have suffered, as well: according to dealers, AvtoVAZ car sales dropped 20%, and VSMPO-Avisma has pushed its $1 billion investment programme back three years. With assets being brought under Rostekhnologii's wing, the banks might start perceiving the company as one group, for which they will set a unified limit, said MDM-Bank analyst Mikhail Galkin (a fact that is also acknowledged by Rostekhnologii staff). According to one staffer, the corporation plans to ask the Central Bank to not apply this rule to Rostekhnologii. In general, the corporation plans to seek state aid. Alyoshin recalled that at a recent congress of United Russia, Mr Putin proposed allocating 50 billion roubles to prevent the bankruptcies of defence sector enterprises; Rostekhnologii is already drafting its proposals.
***
ROSTEKHNOLOGII
STATE-RUN CORPORATION
* OWNED: by the state
* CREATED: by a presidential decree in the spring of 2008
* GENERAL DIRECTOR: Sergei Chemezov
Selected assets
Rostekhnologii will get shares in 246 joint stock companies and stakes in 180 federal state unitary enterprises. These are, in particular: the Russian-Mongolian joint ventures Erdenet and Mongolrostsvetmet (copper, a 49% stake in each), the Russian-Vietnamese joint venture Visorutex (rubber, 32%), Rosavia (carries more than 11 million passengers a year, 51%), Oboronprom (defence holding, 31.13%), Kamaz (37.7%), VSMPO-Avisma (62%), AvtoVAZ (25%), Avionika (61.2%) and Rosoboronexport (100%).