June 20, 2016, 00:27 / Business

The concessionaire of the tram network project in the Krasnogvardeisky district plans to issue bonds

Their profitability may exceed inflation, the company expects Dmitry Gorshenin

To finance the tram network project in the Krasnogvardeisky district, the concessionaire plans to issue bonds / E. Egorov / Vedomosti

Transport Concession Company LLC (TCC; must reconstruct at least 14 km of tram tracks in 2.5 years, build a depot, purchase rolling stock, etc.) expects that the project’s profitability will be the consumer price index plus 5.5%, said “ Vedomosti" TKK director Sergei Okutin. The exact value will be clear after the calculations are completed; in reality it may be lower, he clarified. TKK is 60% owned by IC Leader, 10% each by LSR , MK-20SH LLC and two companies affiliated with Leader. In May, TKK entered into a concession agreement with St. Petersburg for 30 years. Investments will amount to 33.7 billion rubles, including construction and maintenance of the facility - 12.5 billion rubles, of which 1.3 billion rubles. - from the city budget. According to Okutin, to finance the project it is planned to issue concession bonds with a maturity of at least 17 years, the first tranche in the amount of 3.5 billion to 4 billion rubles. may be posted this year.

Another 20 billion rubles.

VTB Bank is ready to invest at least 20 billion rubles. into PPP projects in the transport sector of St. Petersburg, these could be projects for the construction of light rail transport branches from the Kirovsky Zavod metro station to Peterhof via the Baltic Pearl and from Pulkovo airport to the Kupchino metro station with the possibility of extension to Expoforum and satellite city of Yuzhny.

This week, TKK will announce a tender for the purchase of more than 20 five-section trams with a 100% low floor, which can meet peak loads, explains Okutin. Their capacity is 5,600 passenger seats; it is planned to transport up to 90,000 people per day. According to Okutin, the company will invite manufacturers from Russia, Europe and Asia to the tender. In Russia, no one produces five-section trams, says Vladimir Usov, deputy general director of UKVZ named after. Kirov. This is confirmed by a representative of Tramrus LLC (a joint venture of Transmashholding and Alstom). UKVZ is considering the possibility of participating in the competition, says Usov: “We have a module that can be modified into a five-section tram, but it will take a lot of time.” Tramrus is interested in the tender, the final decision will be made after reviewing the tender documentation, its representative claims. PC Transport Systems LLC, which has already supplied low-floor trams to St. Petersburg, is also showing interest in the competition, market participants say. The company could not be reached for comment.

The head of the analytical department of the investment company LMS, Dmitry Kumanovsky, calls the profitability of the project high: “The most profitable offers from Russian companies suggest a profitability of 6%, but they have much more risks, here the city acts as a guarantor of the project.” In world practice, the rate of return in PPP transport projects is from 12 to 20%, inflation for 2016 is unlikely to be below 10%, the planned profitability of TKK will be 16–18.5%, says Evgeniy Mazur, project manager of the Infrastructure practice of the group "NEO Center" According to him, the average return on capital in PPP projects, the implementation of which began in the Russian Federation from 2010 to 2014, ranges from 18 to 25%. “The market lacks instruments with floating returns that are several percentage points higher than inflation,” says Sergei Zvenigorodsky, head of the retail sales department at Solid Management Management Company. In case of cash gaps, such a high profitability will be provided by the city budget, he adds.