4 Sep 2019 13:27

Delo planning to ask FAS for permission to buy controlling stake in TransContainer in Sept

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 4 (Interfax) - The Delo Group is planning to ask the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) for permission to purchase a controlling stake in TransContainer , which belongs to Russian Railways (RZD).

"We still have interest [in the asset]. We'll submit an application. We just received access to the data room. Our consultants have begun working with the data room materials," the owner of the holding, Sergei Shishkarev, told journalists on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum on Wednesday.

"A request been submitted to VTB Capital's data room as the organizer of the auction. They've given us access, we're working in the data room. We'll submit [a request] to the FAS in the near future," said Anton Chertkov, who sits on Delo's management board, clarifying that this will be done in September.

When asked whether the company will participate in the auction for the sale of 50% of shares plus two in TransContainer on its own, Shishkarev said, "On our own, for now." If the group wins the auction, it will use borrowed funds to acquire the stake, he said. "The terms of financing are still being finalized," Shishkarev said.

TransContainer owns and manages about 70,000 high-capacity containers, more than 26,500 flat wagons for transporting them, and a network of terminals in Russia (at 38 stations) and Slovakia. It also owns a 50% stake in Kedentransservice (which has 19 railway terminals in Kazakhstan) and stakes in subsidiaries and joint ventures in various countries: 50% plus one share in the RZD subsidiary United Transport-Logistics Company, 24.84% in VTB (which has a forward contract with an outside investor), and 24.74% in Yenisei Capital (owned by Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov).