S. Porter / Vedomosti

What's in Transstroy's portfolio

Austrian Strabag overestimated the Russian market, admitted its CEO Hans Peter Haselsteiner. And the company never acquired a stake in Oleg Deripaska's Transstroy, although it paid an advance for it back in 2010. Transstroy's contracts include the construction of the Zenit stadium in St. Petersburg, a port in Imeretinskaya Bay and a bypass of Kurortny Prospekt in Sochi, and transport infrastructure at Vnukovo.

Strabag SE

Construction holding. Shareholders: Haselsteiner Group (28.9%), Oleg Deripaska's Rasperia Trading (18.2%), Raiffeisen Group (15.1%), UNIQA Group (14.8%), free float - 13%. Treasury shares - 10%. Capitalization (VIENNA STOCK EXCHANGE) - 1.9 billion euros. Financial indicators (2012): revenue - 13 billion euros, net profit of shareholders of the parent company - 60.6 million euros. Order portfolio (as of 31.12.2012) - 13.2 billion euros, in Russia and neighboring countries - 635 million euros.

"Russia is much, much more complex than we estimated," Hans Peter Haselsteiner, CEO of the Austrian construction company Strabag SE, admitted to the Austrian magazine Trend (he will give up his post to Thomas Birtel in June).

The company had expected that the Russian market would become its largest in 2013. But instead of the expected 4 billion euros, Strabag is content with a turnover of 527 million euros in Russia and neighboring countries, and the audit of the accounts of PSK Transstroy (Strabag plans to buy a stake in it), part of Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element construction group, has been dragging on for years. Everything is "taking a hell of a long time, it's a huge personal disappointment," complains Haselsteiner. He names the awakening of nationalism, bureaucracy and the glaring shortage of competent managers as the main obstacles in the company's path.

In 2010, Strabag transferred 70 million euros as an advance payment for 26% of Transstroy shares, a Strabag representative told Vedomosti at the time: "The company has two years for due diligence, after which the parties will decide on the final purchase price." Trend writes that Strabag agreed to buy 26% of Transstroy shares and wants to increase its stake in the company to 51% within two years, without specifying which years it is talking about. The closing of the deal and the final amount have not yet been announced. Strabag currently does not own Transstroy shares, but is conducting due diligence to obtain a minority stake, a Strabag representative told Vedomosti. The Austrian company still plans to become the controlling shareholder of Transstroy, she added.

In the same 2010, Rasperia Trading Ltd., a part of the Basic Element Group, partially exercised the option and acquired 17% of Strabag. Deripaska acquired 30% of Strabag shares back in 2007 for 1.2 billion euros, of which about 500 million euros were provided by Deutsche Bank. After the IPO of the construction holding, Deripaska's share was diluted to 25% minus 1 share. And during the crisis, a margin call occurred on the Deutsche Bank loan, and to prevent the Strabag package from going to the bank, the company's shareholders repaid Deripaska's loan, giving him the right to buy back the shares. The partners postponed the option exercise deadlines several times, and in 2010 Rasperia Trading Ltd. finally bought back 17% of Strabag shares. The remaining 8% of shares can be bought back until July 15, 2014.

A representative of Bazel declined to comment.

Russia Disappoints Strabag