Page 161 - RusRPTSept22

Volga-Dnepr is the largest cargo air group in Russia, which includes three companies: the eponymous Volga-Dnepr, AirBridgeCargo and Atran. At the beginning of the year, they collectively occupied more than 50% of the Russian air cargo transportation market. AirBridgeCargo was the industry leader in terms of cargo traffic. As of mid-February, the group had 11 Russian aircraft and 27 Boeing in its fleet.
Volga-Dnepr's business was aimed at the global cargo transportation market: AirBridgeCargo and Volga-Dnepr Airlines had almost 100% of their flights international, while Atran had 65%.
The group's activities have also been affected by a ban on the sale of aircraft parts to Russia and a complete ban on flights by Russian carriers to the European Union. In addition, Boeing owned by Volga-Dnepr was sanctioned by the US Department of Commerce, and Isaikin, the owner of the group, was sanctioned by the UK.
To save the business, the management wanted to create a new enterprise in the CIS or the Middle East, where they expected to transfer part of the aircraft and transfer personnel. But nothing came of this idea, says the interlocutor of RBC.
Now Volga-Dnepr continues to fly Russian An-124 and Il-76 aircraft. The group has an agreement on cargo transportation with the Moscow authorities for 9.5bn rubles. It will also receive 907mn rubles of subsidies from the federal budget. But the assistance from the federal and city authorities is only 5% of the group’s last year’s revenue: in 2021, the total revenue of Volga-Dnepr, AirBridgeCargo and Atran exceeded 212bn rubles.
Volga-Dnepr was one of the few Russian private companies that did well on the international market. Over the years, the group has maintained its leadership in the challenging air cargo sector, and in some respects (in the extra-heavy and oversized cargo segment) has been a world leader. After the start of the “special operation”, the business of Volga-Dnepr suffered greatly from the sanctions. However, the group has not yet lost hope of saving him: as an option, the possibility is being considered to replace the foreign aircraft that AirBridgeCargo and Atran flew with Russian ones, including the Il-76 and Il-96.
9.2.16 Other sector corporate news
Mondi, a multinational paper and packaging group headquartered in Austria and the UK, announced that it had entered into an agreement to sell its Mondi Syktyvkar facility (a pulp, packaging paper and uncoated fine paper mill with annual capacity of 1.1bn tonnes) and two affiliated entities to Augment Investments Limited, which is controlled by the co-owner of Pharmstandard, Viktor Haritonin. The deal is valued at R95bn, or circa
161 RUSSIA Country Report September 2022 www.intellinews.com