Igor Shuvalov's commission will consider the rescue plan for Oleg Deripaska's group

Next week, a government commission headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov will consider a plan for anti-crisis support for one of the large enterprises. According to unofficial information, we are talking about the GAZ group, owned by Oleg Deripaska, which requires at least $1.6 billion. The meeting, scheduled for February 3, should become the first example of a comprehensive study of the situation and the development of measures to save a specific enterprise. However, the state cautions potential applicants that it does not intend to support everyone.

Yesterday at the economic forum in Davos, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said that on February 3, the government anti-crisis commission he heads to increase the sustainability of the Russian economy will consider a plan to support one of the large enterprises that finds itself in a “most difficult situation.” Not only the management and top management of the rescued company, but also its creditors, as well as the head of the region in which its head office is located, should be invited to the meeting with Mr. Shuvalov.

Mr. Shuvalov and his representatives did not specify which company will be the subject of consideration. A Kommersant source in the government reported that we are talking about the GAZ group, controlled by Oleg Deripaska's Russian Machines OJSC. This information was confirmed to Kommersant by one of the car market participants and a source close to the GAZ group. Group board member Elena Matveeva noted only that “the group did not receive an official invitation from the government commission.”

The situation of the GAZ group is really difficult. The group has not yet published the results of its work for 2008, but due to the onset of the crisis, its sales fell sharply: the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, Valery Shantsev, said that in November GAZ received only about $180 million in revenue, while in September it was $480 million At the end of October, GAZ had accumulated two months of inventory, the head of the group, Sergei Zanozin, admitted in an interview with Kommersant, as a result of which its production in 2008 could fall by 30%, revenue by 7-8%, and EBIDTA by 40-40%. 50%. He did not rule out that because of the crisis, GAZ could “lay off, say, 25 thousand people” (a total of 115 thousand work there). At the end of 2008, GAZ transferred only $20 million of the required $33 million in dividends.

In December, the authorities of the Nizhny Novgorod region said that to maintain the viability of the group, it requires a minimum of $1.6 billion in government funding, of which, according to analysts, up to $1 billion is required to pay off short-term debt alone.

In February, GAZ has an offer for bonds worth about $147 million, recalls Bank of Moscow analyst Mikhail Lyamin. He clarifies that Alfa Bank is now demanding the return of $2.1 million from GAZ through the court. In December, to refinance debts, the group decided to issue bonds worth almost $600 million, which can be purchased by state banks.

In October, the group admitted that it had accumulated a debt to suppliers (its amount was not specified), which could realistically be repaid no earlier than the summer. Yesterday Valery Shantsev said that the issue of the relationship between the GAZ group and one of the key suppliers and competitor, Sollers OJSC, could be brought up to the level of the “federal government”, namely Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin (oversees civilian industries). It supplies GAZ with engines for Gazelles and Sobols, providing up to 80% of its needs for power units for light commercial trucks (LCVs). Elena Matveeva says that the group “a week ago decided to equip the LCV with its own engine produced by the Ulyanovsk Motor Plant (part of the group - Kommersant ).”

In 2009, GAZ plans to produce more than 100 thousand LCVs, and “up to 85% of these vehicles will be equipped with UMZ-4216 engines of Euro-3 standard.” “In times of crisis, the key for us is to reduce production costs, and equipping with our own engine will allow us to reduce the retail price of Gazelle by 10%,” Ms. Matveeva emphasized. Sollers yesterday did not welcome the possible severance of the partnership with the GAZ group (the Zavolzhsky Motor Plant, which is part of Sollers, supplies up to 50% of its products to GAZ) and stated that they were interested “in maintaining partnership relations.” According to Valery Shantsev, “the deadline for the parties to agree is the end of this week.”

Measures to support the GAZ group, which will be considered by Igor Shuvalov’s commission, are not disclosed. According to Kommersant's sources in federal departments and automakers, the deputy prime minister's commission considers "everything related to money: how strong the company's cash deficit is, what government guarantees for loans can be provided to it, what investment projects need to be supported."

As the official representative of Igor Shuvalov clarified to Kommersant, the commission intends, using the example of a single company, to trace the entire chain of relationships with creditors and consumers in order to clearly present the most effective measures to support Russian enterprises during the crisis. At the same time, Mr. Shuvalov himself emphasized that such a practice will not be widespread. He explained that many entrepreneurs “have the feeling that the state will save their enterprises in any case, new lending conditions will be created, special procurement programs for government needs, and so on.” “There was nothing like that in our plans,” assured Igor Shuvalov. He added that assistance will be provided only if the enterprise has a specific program to increase competitiveness, and “tens of thousands of employees” are not an argument for the state.

Dmitry Kommersant-Belikov, Petr Kommersant-Netreba, Dmitry Kommersant-Smirnov

GAS will be allowed into the White House