Vekselberg got caught in the St. Petersburg network

Fortum sold the majority of its shares to Lenenergo

Integrated Energy Systems (IES), owned by the structures of Viktor Vekselberg and his associates, are going to create a large electric grid company in St. Petersburg. Several sources close to RAO UES of Russia and the city administration reported this to Vremya Novostei. The first step towards this goal was the purchase of a large stake in Lenenergo (this name was retained for the network component of the former vertically integrated energy company) from the Finnish Fortum, which announced on Friday the sale of 35.45% of the shares for 295 million euros (almost 400 million dollars).

As a result of the transaction, RAO UES received 3.3% of the shares of Lenenergo, the remaining shares were received by VTB and the Electricity Distribution Investments Ltd fund (IDE, positioned as a IES fund created for investment in power grids). At the same time, sources close to the deal claim that VTB is acting in the interests of IES - the package was divided in order not to offer an offer to the company's minority shareholders and not to coordinate the deal with the FAS, because Fortum was in a hurry to get rid of the network asset before August 23. On this day, an extraordinary meeting of Lenenergo shareholders will be held, which must approve an additional issue of shares in favor of the city administration, which does not have a stake in the company and thus intends to acquire a blocking stake (the city's electric grid property will be included in the capital of Lenenergo). After the placement of the additional issue, IES and VTB will own less than 24% of Lenenergo shares.

The Board of Directors of RAO approved a scheme for changing the ownership structure of Lenenergo at a meeting at the end of July. Then it was announced that Fortum was leaving the capital of the St. Petersburg company (for which, according to experts, it would probably receive a large stake in one of the territorial generating companies), but before that, RAO bought 3.3% of the shares from the Finns in order to retain control over "Lenenergo".

At the same time, on Friday it was announced that for IES the purchase of Lenenergo shares is a portfolio investment. IDE managing partner Konstantin Shevchenko explained to reporters that IES (like VTB) considers the shares of the St. Petersburg company to be undervalued. However, sources in the energy market claim that IES intend to build a large utility company in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. And the non-blocking stake in Lenenergo will be one of its assets (after the abolition of RAO next year, it will obviously not be difficult to increase this stake). As is known, the structures of Mr. Vekselberg’s company own 75% of Russian Utility Systems (RCS), which were created in 2003 to work in the regions, and they are not yet represented either in Moscow or St. Petersburg. It is difficult to say what the emerging St. Petersburg company will be like; it was not possible to get a comment from IES and RKS on this matter.

A source close to RAO claims that, de facto, the St. Petersburg energy market has already been divided: generation will remain with Gazprom, which is going to acquire TGK-1 (and continues negotiations on the acquisition of the North-West CHPP), and the networks and, apparently, sales - for IES. But since the law prohibits owning both a network business and a generating or sales business, a fund was created that de jure has no relation to IES, suggests Vremya Novostey’s source in the energy market.

Thus, it can be argued that IES is striving to become a large company on the Russian energy market, and a vertically integrated one at that. Which, in fact, was opposed by the head of RAO Anatoly Chubais when conceiving the reform of the electric power industry. However, IES and RKS will try to reform the housing and communal services sector and introduce market relations there only after acquiring all types of electric power business. Experts cannot predict how correct this tactic is. First of all, due to the fact that political risks in housing and communal services are still very high. In St. Petersburg, it seems that IES is not very welcome: as the head of the city energy committee, Alexander Bobrov, told Reuters regarding the deal with Lenenergo shares, “there is no point in becoming a strategic investor in a company where RAO owns a controlling stake, and the city will get a blocking stake.” .

Nikolai GORELOV, Ivan GORDEEV