The authorities have found an investor for the Novocherkassk Fish Processing Plant

The largest pond farm in the Russian Federation in terms of volume, OJSC Novocherkassk Fish Processing Plant, which is currently in bankruptcy proceedings, can be sold at open auction. Regional authorities claim that they have even found an investor interested in purchasing the enterprise; he will decide to participate in the auction for the sale of the plant’s property after completing the assessment of the assets. According to preliminary data, the value of the plant's property is 500 million rubles, but trading is likely to go down. According to experts, this transaction may be of interest to a specialized market player planning to expand their business.

The Don Minister of Agriculture Vyacheslav Vasilenko told reporters that the bankrupt Novocherkassk Fish Processing Plant will change its owner and resume its work next year. According to the minister, the regional authorities are now looking for an investor for the enterprise.

“At the moment, the plant is being assessed with a view to holding tenders for its sale. The initial sale price of the JSC's property may be 500 million rubles. Most likely, during the auction the price will go down,” Mariam Ananyan, press secretary of the regional Ministry of Agriculture and Food, clarified to Kommersant. The ministry notes that “there are persons interested in purchasing the fish processing plant,” but their names are not disclosed before the official auction.

Previously, the owner of the Russian Agro-Industrial Trust (RAPT), Vadim Varshavsky, was named as a potential investor for the problem asset. The entrepreneur himself declined to comment yesterday. Deputy head of the administration of the Oktyabrsky rural district, Alexander Belikov, told Kommersant that he was hearing about negotiations with Mr. Varshavsky for the first time. “We have an investor who has expressed interest in purchasing the JSC. He will make a decision on whether or not to participate in the auction only after completing the assessment of the debtor’s property,” the official said. The report of the arbitration manager of the Novocherkassk Fish Factory, Viktor Akimov, will be announced on October 25. It was not possible to reach him by phone yesterday.

“Novocherkassk Fish Factory” is the largest full-system pond complex in Russia with a water surface area of 4.3 thousand hectares. The fish factory had the largest sturgeon broodstock in Russia (about 700 thousand individuals), and specialized in breeding Russian sturgeon, sterlet, beluga, bester, carp and silver carp. The main shareholders of the OJSC, according to kartoteka.ru , are Alexander Pidenko (26.67% of shares), as well as the Yugavia RCC controlled by him (51.42%). At the end of 2009, the plant showed a net loss of 111.9 million rubles; the loss in 2010 amounted to 172.7 million rubles.

Let us recall that the Novocherkassk fish factory was purchased by the Regional Commercial Center "Yugavia" in 2004. A year later, Yugavia acquired 100% of Krasnodar Poultry Farm LLC. The investor started reconstruction at both enterprises - at the plant, in particular, it was planned to create a fish processing plant with a total capacity of 5 thousand tons per year. For these purposes, as well as to replenish working capital, RCC borrowed about 2 billion rubles from Sberbank. In 2009–2011, the group began to have financial problems due to the financial crisis, low production profitability and a strong credit burden. In the summer of 2011, all three companies began bankruptcy proceedings. Immediately after this, YuZB filed 21 lawsuits in the amount of 2.4 billion rubles against RKTs, Novocherkassk Fish Processing Plant and Krasnodar Poultry Farm.

In the spring of 2012, bankruptcy proceedings were introduced at the fish processing plant. As of October 2012, the fish factory owes more than 900 million rubles. Sberbank, 119.6 million rubles. — B&N Bank, 54 million rubles. — Salsky feed mill. Wages arrears amount to 19.07 million rubles.

Regional authorities have been unsuccessfully trying to find a buyer for the bankrupt asset since the spring of 2012. “Fish is a rather specific business that needs to be done for a considerable time in order for it to be profitable. It does not provide high profitability, and there is no state support program for this industry in Russia. However, the plant may acquire a large fish canning holding in order to expand its business,” notes the head of one of the Kuban fish farms.

“It is difficult to imagine which of the largest players will decide on such a deal before the advent of the law on aquaculture, which regulates the work of the industry and provides for its budgetary subsidies,” says the press service of the NGO “Fish Union”.

Tatiana Serbina

Sturgeons will go under the hammer