The ruble saves billions

The capital's authorities refused to buy Sky Express, the Moscow government decided to refuse to buy a 75% stake in Sky Express for one ruble. Capital officials believe that the company's offer was ambiguous initially.

“In fact, although it sounds tempting - 75% of the shares per ruble, nothing free happens,” said Vladimir Silkin, deputy mayor, head of a complex of property -land relations of Moscow. “The company has tremendous debts, and we do not want to take them.”

Help "newspapers" Sky Express is the first low -budget airline in Russia. It was founded in March 2006 by entrepreneurs Boris and Alexander Abramovichi. The company carries out passenger air transportation in the European part of Russia in nine directions: Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, Murmansk, Tyumen, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Perm and Chelyabinsk. According to the results of 2008, the airline transported more than 1 million passengers and entered the first five airlines in terms of volume of passengers in the domestic market. The park consists of nine Boeing 737 aircraft. The basic airport of the airline - Vnukovo. In December 2008, it became known that the co -owner of Vnukovo Airport, the chairman of the board of directors of the company "Vnukovo International Airport", Vitaly Vantsev, acquired a 39% stake in the Sky Express airline. In March of this year, Vansev through the structures affected by him brought his share to the company to 75% of the shares.

As another reason for refusing the transaction, the official called the fact that from the moment of receipt of the proposal to buy a package of 75% of the shares per ruble, the Moscow government, except for an unofficial proposal, "did not see real documents." Moreover, Vladimir Silkin emphasized, after the proposal of the owner of the package Vitaly Vantsev (co -owner of the Vnukovo Airport), the capital's authorities requested additional documentation to make a decision.

“We needed to consider the materials about which aircraft park, what debt, what cash flow this airline can generate, but we did not receive the documents, we could not conduct all the necessary calculations,” the deputy mayor summed up.

The press service of Sky Express comment on the city hall refusal to buy a share in the company.

The expert community sees several reasons for the Moscow government refusal from the transaction. “The company Sky Express is overtaken by a fairly large debt load and, apparently, this asset, based on its financial situation, seemed not too attractive to the metropolitan authorities,” says Oleg Panteleev, head of the Aviaport agency analytical service.

However, despite a significant debt load, the expert does not consider the situation with the financial situation of the dramatic company. If we talk about bankruptcy, then, according to the analyst, it is possible, both “if one of the creditors decides to make debt, and if the majority shareholder submits an application for a voluntary bankruptcy procedure.” At the same time, Oleg Panteleev emphasizes that so far neither creditors nor shareholders have expressed a desire to bankrupt the company.

The Sky Express itself claims that the situation with the debt load is completely under control.

“Sky Express does not have large unresolved debts,” Marina Bukalova, general director of the airline, told the newspaper. According to her, in the process of restructuring, there are obligations worth not more than $ 5 million. At the same time, the Sky Express shareholders invested about $ 100 million in the development of the carrier in the form of long -term loans and contributions to the authorized capital. “Of these, $ 40 million were received before buying a package of shares of the company by the structures of Vitaly Vantsev,” she said. Loan repayment period is the end of 2011. “Debts for fuel to the structures of Vnukovo were converted into a loan from Mr. Vantsev as a shareholder,” says Marina Bukalova.

It is worth noting that, according to unofficial data, the total debt of Sky Express significantly exceeds 2 billion rubles, and its lion's share consists of debt to fuel suppliers at Vnukovo Airport, in which the carrier is based.

However, there are other reasons for the decision of the Moscow Government to refuse the transaction. “The feasibility of buying an asset for the Moscow government is still not entirely clear,” says Oleg Panteleev. “Theoretically, it could be assumed that this asset could be introduced into the Rosavia created company as a property contribution by the Moscow government, but the Sky Express business model is radically different from the proposed Rosavia business model, so this is not too appropriate,” he said.

It is noteworthy that Vitaliy Vantsev came out with the initiative to sell Sky Express the capital's city hall while still his main contender for the leadership of the Rosavia created. After the appointment of the head of the Alliance of Boris King, the situation changed. Perhaps the Moscow government has lost interest in the transaction in this regard. Yesterday Vitaly Vantsev was not available for comment.

05/04/2009 / Anton Trifonov, the material was published in the newspaper No. 79 dated 05.05.2009.