Dmitry Kommersant-Butrin

special correspondent

Of course, one can only sympathize with German Gref. Speaking last Friday at a meeting of the Competitiveness Commission with invective addressed to greenmailers, who belong not on the Forbes list of billionaires, but in prison, he did not want to say anything special. In any case, something that would then merit urgent justification on Vladimir Solovyov’s Sunday television broadcast. Of course, Severstal co-owner Alexei Mordashov, who was present in the same room, probably had to endure unpleasant seconds. The practice of hostile takeovers described by German Gref is well known to large Russian businessmen, and the example of a billionaire appearing both in Forbes and in the register of residents of a general regime colony was given to all Russian business as felt by the Basmanny Court.

But German Gref, of course, spoke about something else. Of course, not Mordashov, not Mikhail Fridman, whose subordinate company Alfa-Eco is considered by the market to be the strongest player in the market of hostile takeovers, and certainly not Roman Abramovich and Vagit Alekperov, Gref called for shame. Among the recognized raiders there are no dollar billionaires, although, of course, there are ruble billionaires.

Another thing is whether it is justified to call the Prosecutor General’s Office on the heads of real raiders? The Minister of Economic Development can be forgiven for confusing terms. The fact is that greenmailers, corporate blackmailers, in Russia, as a rule, do not seize enterprises, being satisfied with bribes from the main shareholders. However, both greenmailers and raiders (specialists in hostile takeovers), if we do not take into account their constant corruption of the judiciary, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and regional authorities, are unlikely to deserve such a contemptuous attitude from Minister Gref.

One can understand Yuri Luzhkov, whose materials the head of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade used when describing greenmailers. Raiders, attacking mossy managers of factories and factories located in the vicinity of the Central Administrative District since the 20s, of course, deprive officials of a sense of self-confidence. How is it that we have been sitting in our Red Pentagon factory, two kilometers from the Kremlin, since 1979, the mayor promised us support and the Order of St. Tryfon - the winner of drunkenness, we rent out three buildings to the left, and we pass the envelopes upstairs to those who need them. And then shaved lawyers in commissar’s leather jackets from Gucci come to the industrial aristocracy and say that they are not the brain of the nation, but pensioners, they can get into their Lexus and go to their dacha in Kubinka forever. It's a shame! - Yes, I am an honorary inventor-innovator, a member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, included in the book “The Best People of Russia”, for such people Yuri Luzhkov created a special center for protection against hostile takeovers...

Yuri Luzhkov can be understood. But for German Gref it’s difficult. Classic raiders in Russia and abroad have never attacked an enterprise whose assets were adequately valued. And there is always a reason why it makes sense for a raider (or simply a corporate blackmailer) to start his dirty deed. And the reason is not his immorality.

In most cases, the raider attacks enterprises with ineffective management - primarily, near-municipal and near-state structures. And not because the raider is an enemy of the state. But because they are usually poorly managed. However, private enterprises, in which management prefers to divert profits from shareholders to their own companies, do not worry about the legal purity of assets, pay taxes God knows how, and finally, just fool around, are not protected from a raider.

Okay, raiders are brutal predators, daring scoundrels, cold-blooded destroyers. But how often does a raider attack anyone who is not a toothless predator, a listless scoundrel and a good-natured destroyer? Yes, almost never. The point of raiding is to find undervalued assets and resell them to someone who will provide value to the assets.

If we were Gref, it would be worth recalling the practice of the British Empire, which issued corsair patents to pirates. Of course, bribing judges is not healthy. But a raider operating more or less within the law could well qualify for a “raider” license from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade. The goals of the ministry and the raiders coincide - of course, if the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade considers its goal to include increasing the efficiency of Russian companies, and not just curtsies to the mayor.

way of looking at things