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biggest and highest international standard facilities in Russia," Franz Josef Marx, a German national and CEO of Ilim Group told bne IntelliNews in an interview in July 2015 . Previously Ilim postponed the Irkutsk investment from 2013 and 2014 due to unfavourable market conditions and problems with banking financing.
Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port ( NCSP ) has had its accounts arrested and blocked as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into its shareholder Summa Group and jailed Kremlin-connected oligarch Ziyavudin Magomedov, Kommersant d aily said on June 28. Reportedly Russian state pipeline operator Transneft, another large shareholder in NSCP, is trying undo the arrest on the accounts to let the port continue normal operations. Previously Transneft has turned down a deal with Summa Group to take over control in NSCP. Transneft already holds 10.5% in NCSP indirectly, with another 20% held by the state property agency Rosimushestvo, and 50.1% stake controlled by Novoport Holding, a 50/50 joint venture between Transneft and Summa. Ziyavudin Magomedov is Russia's 76th richest man with a fortune of $1.3bn according to Forbes. He and his brother and ex-senator of North Caucasus Republic of Dagestan Magomed Magomedov were arrested on March 31 accused of large-scale embezzlement and running an economic crime ring. Magomedov's Summa group is a large investor in transportation assets that include the NSCP, Fesco ports and Transcontainer, as well as construction, oil and gas, agriculture, and telecom assets. Speculation has been rife that his arrest is a land grab by another oligarch and fingers have been pointed at Igor Sechin, the CEO of state-owned oil major Rosneft , who is after Magomedov’s port holdings. NCSP for a long time remained one of the main assets of Russia's otherwise compromised privatisation effort. The port handles half the volume of Russia’s oil exports and is reportedly on Sechin’s acquisition wish-list.
Russian multi-industry investment holding AFK Sistema reported first-quarter financials showing 6.1% year-on-year revenue and 7.5% Oibda growth to RUB170.7bn ($2.7bn) and RUB49.2bn, beating the consensus expectations by 1.1% and 2.8%, respectively. Sistema was badly wounded by last year’s legal battle s with Kremlin-controlled oil major Rosneft and its subsidiary Bashneft, but since the conflict was settled at the end of 2017 the company has resumed investment activity across various segments and geographies and posted revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2017 . In the reporting first quarter of 2018 "solid performances from MTS, Detsky Mir, Segezha, and Steppe Holding prompted the company’s outperformance vs consensus estimates," Aton Equity commented on June 5. Sistema also raised sufficient financing to satisfy its financial obligations under the settlement agreement with Rosneft, Bashneft, and the Republic of Bashkortostan, the analysts note, although this led to a spike in net debt ((RUB217.7bn in Q1/18 versus RUB107.8bn in Q1/17). The group's board recommended to deviate from current dividend policy, given Sistema’s strategic goal to decrease corporate leverage, and recommended RUB1.06bn or RUB0.11/share dividend as the final dividend payment for 2017, estimated by Aton to translate into 1.1% dividend yield. VTB Capital commented on June 5 that the focus on Sistema should currently be not on the financial results, but on asset monetisation and deleveraging opportunities, "which could prompt a significant expansion of Sistema’s equity value." In this respect, the management confirmed Sistema's founder's and largest shareholder's Vladimir Yevtushenko’s previous comments that Sistema could sell its Detsky Mir
RUSSIA Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com