3 May 2023 10:08

Gutseriev family divests stakes in Russian Coal, KTK

MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - The Gutseriev family has divested its stakes in JSC Russian Coal and JSC Kuzbasskaya Toplivnaya Company (KTK) , the coal miners' reports for 2022 indicate.

Russian Coal reported that Sait-Salam Gutseriev, brother of Mikhail Gutseriev, was the beneficiary owner of the company until August 11, 2022, but as of August 12 Iskender Khalilov became the beneficiary. However, an attached list of Russian Coal affiliates as of December 31, 2022 showed that Cyprus-based Claverley Holding Limited retained more than 99% of shares in the company and Cyprus-based Kilton Overseas Limited held 0.01%.

Russian Coal had until recently been considered to be an asset of Mikhail Gutseriev's Safmar Group, but the tycoon and other members of the Gutseriev family are not listed among the company's affiliated parties as of December 31, 2022.

KTK reported that Khalilov and former Khanty Mansi Autonomous District Senator Viktor Pichugov were the company's beneficiary owners as of December 31, 2022, but the size of their stakes was not disclosed. A year earlier, KTK's ultimate beneficiaries were Khalilov and Sait-Salam Gutseriev, and at the end of 2020 KTK's majority shareholder, with almost 52%, was Kilton, which was controlled by Mikhail Gutseriev.

At the end of December 2022, Omega LLC received the Russian president's permission to buy 100% of shares in KTK and hand them over as collateral to state bank VTB . The permission was granted in line with the president's August 2022 decree "On special economic measures in the finance and fuel and energy sectors in connection with the unfriendly actions of certain foreign states and international organizations."

Omega LLC's Taxpayer Identification Number (INN) and place of registration were not disclosed in the document.

However, a firm called Omega LLC is also listed among Russian Coal's affiliates based on it "belonging to the same group of persons to which [Russian Coal] belongs," and the date on which this basis for affiliation began is given as September 14, 2022. Data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE) showed that on this date Russian Coal received 100% of the company and handed it to VTB as collateral.

The last disclosed list of KTK affiliates, as of March 31, 2021, showed that Khalilov and Pichugov did not hold stakes in the company directly. Cyprus-based Millfast Trading Limited and Daenia Holdings Limited held stakes of 24.6% and 23.35%, respectively. KTK said in its reporting for the first quarter of 2021 that Khalilov controlled Daenia and Pichugov controlled Millfast.

The USRLE showed that until September 14, 2022 Millfast was the sole owner of Omega LLC, which was listed among Russian Coal's affiliates.

KTK's only mining asset is the Vinogradovsky open-pit mine, which combines the Vinogradovsky, Karakansky-Yuzhny, Cheremshansky and Bryansky sections and produces D rank thermal coal. KTK also has two washing plants, Kaskad-1 and Kaskad-2, a distribution network and infrastructure divisions. The company mined 9.6 million tonnes of coal in 2020; it has not disclosed production figures for 2021 and 2022.

Russian Coal, which has operations in Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khakassia and Amur Region, mined 14.7 million tonnes of coal in 2021. It has not disclosed figures for 2022.