Owner himself

Dmitry Pumpyansky became the sole owner of TMK

A large private company has appeared in Russia, owned by one person. Last Friday it became known that the head of the Pipe Metallurgical Company Dmitry Pumpyansky consolidated 100% of its shares by purchasing 33% of TMK shares from his partners Sergei Popov and Andrey Melnichenko from MDM Bank. The shares that came under the control of Mr. Pumpyansky are distributed among several offshore companies, of which he is the ultimate beneficiary. However, Mr. Pumpyansky will not have sole ownership of the entire TMK for long. In a month, the company intends to conduct an IPO and place up to 21% of shares (FAS permission has already been received). In fact, the initiator of the placement was Mr. Pumpyansky himself.

There are few large companies in Russia (with a turnover of more than $1 billion) that are 100% owned by one owner. In the Russian metallurgy, this was Oleg Deripaska's RUSAL until the recent announcement of a merger deal with SUAL and the alumina assets of the Swiss Glencore (to be completed, as expected, only in April). Until last year, the sole owner of the Novolipetsk Iron and Steel Works was Vladimir Lisin (last year NLMK held an IPO).

According to Forbes, Dmitry Pumpyansky, with a personal capital of $550 million (as of 2005), ranks 48th among the richest Russian businessmen. According to the publication, the head of TMK is the only entrepreneur in Russia who managed to beat MDM Group in the fight for large property. In 2001, he managed to protect his Sinarsky Pipe Plant (Sverdlovsk Region) from the claims of MDM. In 2002, he merged business with former opponents into the Pipe Metallurgical Company, and already at the beginning of 2003 he gained control of 67% of TMK shares.

Founded in 2001, TMK is Russia's largest manufacturer and exporter of pipe products. The total volume of pipe production in 2005 amounted to 2.92 million tons, revenue - 79 billion rubles. (almost $3 billion). The plan for this year is about 3 million tons of pipes and 2 million tons of steel. TMK's strategic investment program, designed until 2010, involves about $1.2 billion in capital investments.

Earlier it was reported that this summer TMK raised several loans for Chairman of the Board of Directors Dmitry Pumpyansky, who at that time was the beneficiary of 67% of the company's shares, to finance the deal to buy out a 33% stake. In particular, TMK Steel (owned by Mr. Pumpyansky) borrowed $855.3 million from TMK itself until October 10, 2011. Apparently, the funds received by Mr. Pumpyansky’s structures from the IPO will be used to repay these loans. The company plans to close the order book for the placement of global depositary receipts in the first ten days of November.

Anna LANDER