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bne Invest
June 14, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 9
Russian pharmacy chain 36.6 gets new investor in SPO
Altus Capital investment fund has acquired a 29.7% stake in Russian Pharmacy chain 36.6, the companies announced on June 13.
The chain is one of the largest in Russia, with RUB12.5bn of revenues in 1Q19. It operates over 1,300 pharmacies in under brands 36.6, Gorzdrav, A5, and others.
In September 2018 the pharmacy chain said it would be preparing an SPO. Altus Capital acquired almost half of the 4.4bn shares worth RUB22.1bn issued in May 2019 for about RUB10.2bn. The funds raised would be used to investment projects and operational activities.
Altus Capital is a former investment branch of
UFG Capital, which was sold in the beginning of 2017 and is reportedly controlled by one of the UFG partners Dmitry Klenov.
The shareholder structure of the pharmacy chain has not been disclosed. Vedomosti daily reports on June 13 that Altus has reportedly bought more shares in 36.6 from other shareholders.
36.6 has been consolidating its share of the market for the last couple of years. In June 2015, it took over pharmacy chain A.V.E. Group. In August 2016, 36.6 acquired the Russian division of major pharmaceutical distributor Walgreens Boots Alliance RUB2.4bn ($37mn). 36.6 and A5 announced their merger in January 2016.
Russian metals major Norilsk Nickel to pay $3.7bn in dividends for 2018
Russian metals major Norilsk Nickel approved a final dividend of $1.9bn for 2018 at the general shareholder meeting of June 10, together with interim dividends making a payout of $3.7bn or 43% more than $2.09bn paid for 2017.
The company's dividend policy assumes a payment of 60% of Ebitda in dividends should the leverage be below 1.8x, and 30% of Ebitda if it exceeds 2.2x. In 2018 the company made $6.2bn in Ebitda (53% margin) while the net debt to earnings ratio stood at 0.8x.
aluminium major Rusal of Oleg Deripaska and Crispian of Roman Abramovich have been locked in one of the longest shareholders conflicts in Russian history over decision on how to manage the cash flow of Norilsk Nickel.
Potanin still believes that dividends of Russian metals major Norilsk Nickel "should be revised downwards," so that the company can carry out its 2019-2022 investment programme and expand palladium projects, he told Bloomberg in an interview in March 2019.
Read the full story here
To remind, Interros of tycoon Vladimir Potanin,