Former Funkwerk head, SaaBaa president join RZD-RV board
MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) - Two foreign directors have joined the board of directors of RZD-Passenger Station Development (RZD-RV), company materials show.
Hans Grundner, who was CEO of German communications equipment maker Funkwerk from 2000 to 2011, and Sohn Myoung-won, president of South Korea's SaaBaa group since 2003, joined RZD-RV's board in April.
Funkwerk specializes on the development of DECT systems, communications systems, video surveillance and visual information systems used for public transport, industrial facilities, automobiles and institutions. Russian Railways (RZD) uses an automated acoustic and visual passenger information system from this company.
RZD-RV reached an agreement with SaaBaa in March to raise investment for projects to build passenger transfer hubs. Business daily Vedomosti reported that the agreement was signed by RZV-RV subsidiary and project operator RV-Metro, which has been set up as a joint venture to build transfer hubs at Moscow Metro stations. "The loans will be returned depending on the scenario for raising them: cash, stakes, obligations," the paper reported a spokesman for RZD's Directorate of Railway Stations (DZV) as saying.
The Korea Herald reported that SaaBaa will be responsible for attracting Korean partners and investors, and that the parties had agreed on a project costing $10 billion. DZV head Sergei Abramov said in October that RZD was entertaining the possibility of inviting South Korean investors to build a transfer hub in Ulyanovsk, where there are plans to renovate the Ulyanovsk Central station and develop the surrounding area.
RZD-RV's board also includes Abramov, company head Sergei Pak, RZD director of corporation development and reporting Andrei Pryakhin, RZD deputy head of legal Kirill Sokolov and Pavel Gudkov, CEO of OJSC National Capital, a company controlled by the Blagosostoyanie pension fund.
RZD-RV was founded in 2009 on the initiative of DZV to facilitate the modernization and reconstruction of train stations, as well as develop new projects with "network operators" of services. RZD-RV was initially wholly owned by RZD subsidiary Baminvest. In 2011 it was reported that the Blagosostoyanie pension fund acquired 74.97% of RZD-RV and that Baminvest retained 25.03%, however, business daily Vedomosti reported that this stake is owned by Sistema-Service, a company controlled by RZD-RV chief executive Sergei Pak. Pak is a long-time acquaintance of DZV head Sergei Abramov and his wife Alla Kalashnik.