Likistov pulls out of rail business, partners buy new assets - paper
MOSCOW. Dec 26 (Interfax) - Moscow Deputy Mayor Maxim Liksutov, the head of the department for transport and road infrastructure, has sold all his business assets, including 25% of LLC Aeroexpress, Vedomosti newspaper reported Wednesday, citing the official.
"I sold all the assets I held with former partners. I do not have any assets left apart from a restaurant in Tallin, which belongs to my wife and is my personal property," he said.
Liksutov joined the Moscow government from the transport business - the businessman was co-owner of CJSC Transmashholding (TMH) , Transgroup AS, Aeroexpress, City Tram Transport System and Moscow Monorail Roads and also joint companies with OJSC Russian Railways (RZD) - OJSC Railtransauto and OJSC Moscow-Tver Suburban Passenger Company and OJSC Central Suburban Passenger Company. Their shares were transferred into trust management.
Liksutov sold his stake in Russia's largest producer of rolling stock for the railway and metro - TMH in March to the other shareholders - Iskander Makhmudov, Andrei Bokarev and several managers (they owned 50% minus one share in unknown proportions). The other TMH shares belong to French concern Alstom and to RZD. Sources told Vedomosti at the time that the official had sold his shares for a better price than in the Alstom deal in 2008 (the French bought a blocking stake for around 9.3 billion rubles). "Alstom paid 100 rubles per share, I sold my stake for 105 rubles per share," Liksutov confirmed, but he did not disclose the size of the stake. Sources close to TMH said the stake could be 6% to 7%.
Deals to sell the remaining assets, with the exception of Aeroexpress, were completed in early December, the deputy mayor said. The shares were sold to former partners. A spokesman for Makhmudov confirmed this to Vedomosti. "For the main part of the assets we had an agreement that if someone wanted to pull out, the remaining partners would have preferential rights," Liksutov said. The last asset to be sold was Aeroexpress, in which Liksutov said he owned 25%. Half the company's charter capital belongs to RZD, 25% to Delta-Trans-Invest, 17.5% to Makhmudov and 7.5% to Bokarev. The Aeroexpress deal is structured so that the partners buy the shares in parts.
Liksutov did not disclose the amount of the deal. "It is several hundred million dollars, but less than Forbes estimated," he said Forbes estimated his fortune at $500 million. The money for the assets has virtually all been paid and Liksutov plans to keep it deposited in Russian banks, he said. As a government official he does not think he should invest the money in business. Infranews Chairman Alexei Bezborodov estimates Aeroexpress at around $300 million.
Railtransauto, which transports vehicles by rail, can be estimated at $100 million, but the company relies heavily on state subsidies. The value of Transgroup AS is not high and Central Suburban Passenger Company is expensive but needs 20 billion to 30 billion in investment, Bezborodov said.
Liksutov has worked for the Moscow government since April 2011. He was appointed deputy mayor in September 2011.
Meanwhile, his partners Makhmudov and Bokarev are acquiring new rail industry assets. Kommersant said Wednesday that the businessmen are acquiring 13% of LLC Transoil (initially only Bokarev was reported to be buying) from Gunvor co-owner Gennady Timchenko.
A source from the railway market told the newspaper that the businessmen have agreed all the details of the sale with Timchenko. The technical aspects of the deal are now being completed, he said. Anton Kurevin, a spokesman for Timchenko, confirmed this information. He said the sale of 13% of Transoil to Makhmudov and Bokarev would be completed in January. The shares are to be paid for in cash, but how much is not being disclosed.
Timchenko's stake in Transoil will drop to 80%. The money obtained for the shares could go into other business projects. A 7% stake in Transoil will remain with co-owner of the N-Trans Group (Globaltrans and Global Ports shareholders) Andrei Filatov.
A source told Kommersant that the new Transoil shareholders will have one representative on the board. The board consists of five members, including one representative for Filatov. The source said the main negotiator for the buyers was Bokarev. The SPARK Interfax database shows that 99.93% of Transoil is owned by Viewcall Holdings Ltd. Kommersant said the deal would be carried out by the purchase of 13% in this offshore company by Roland Select.
Earlier, another two N-Trans shareholders - Nikita Mishin and Konstantin Nikolaev owned 13% of Transoil. They sold their stake to Timchenko at the end of 2011 and were estimated to have received around $160 million - $175 million. Market participants say the deal is political. "Makhmudov and Bokarev are showing that they are now friends with the right people," one source told the paper. Another source said Transoil can now obtain certain preferences when buying locomotives and their services from TMH. "This is a friendship with an eye to the liberalization of the market, which will happen sooner or later," one of the sources said.
Transoil is one of the largest oil and petroleum product transport operators in Russia. It manages 34,000 tankers (63% of which it owns). Revenue to Russian Accounting Standards amounted to 51.1 billion rubles in January-September 2012. Net profit was 6.7 billion rubles and 41.1 million tonnes of freight was transported. Transoil accounts for a 21% to 22% share of the oil and petroleum product rain transport segment.