Page 17 - bne_newspaper_July_26_2019

Eastern Europe
July 26, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 17
Roman Abramovich to invest in wine business
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich become the sole holder of debt collateral in the wine distribution assets of former executive of Vinikom and Classica Denis Polyakov, Kommersant daily reported on July 22.
Most recently Ambramovich cashed in on his Rus- sian assets by selling stakes in Evraz and Norilsk Nickel metals majors.
Reportedly, the collateral in the new companies of Polyakov Novaya Classica, Classica Plus and Bar- dolino are now held by Grano of Abramovich. The billionaire, worth $12.4bn according to Forbes, could invest €150mn to help the companies gain
2-3% of the wine and spirit distribution market.
Analysts surveyed by Kommersant see the wine distribution business as risky and volatile because of high competition, currency fluctuations and a planned increase in excise duties. In 2012-2018
a number of wine importers were squeezed out
of the market, bringing the total down from 170 to 100 companies. Imports of wine declined by 16% to 22.6mn decalitres.
Abramovich was previously linked to the Gai-Kodzor winery with 70 hectares of land in the southern city of Anapa controlled by top managers of his investment vehicle Millhouse.
Russian tech agency Rostec asks for $5bn for United Aircraft Corporation
Russian state technology agency Rostec has requested RUB300bn ($5bn) in capital injections for the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC or OAK) from the Kremlin, Kommersant daily and Reuters reported on July 22 citing the minutes of the meeting between Rostec's head, Sergei Chemezov, and President Vladimir Putin.
This month Chemezov has already announced a pos- sible debut bond issue to finance UAC, among other Rostec's projects. More funding has been requested to cover UAC's past losses and to invest in the pro- duction of the domestic mid-range jet MS-21 after an attempt to bring private investors on board failed.
As reported by bne IntelliNews in February, UAC was not in a good shape and needed RUB240bn-
250bn of additional funds. In the meantime,
the production of the newly created MC-21 medium-range aircraft has been postponed to late 2020 now that the US has stopped supplies of composite materials for the wings.
Previously the Audit Chamber revealed that the cost of MS-21 had skyrocketed from RUB125bn in 2008 to RUB438bn in 2019. Irkut Corporation, one of the assets comprising the UAC together wth Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, has accumulated a deficit of RUB197bn.
In the beginning of 2019 large state-controlled banks such as Sberbank, VTB and Vneshekonombank (VEB) were approached to support the UAC, Kommersant noted, but later Chemezov argued that the asset needed to be recapitalised first.