November 13, 2017, 00:24 / Business

Russian Railways wants to sell a stake in the energy company

The monopoly bought a share in TGK-14 with Grigory Berezkin almost 10 years ago. Now the asset is recognized as non-core Ivan Peschinsky Vladimir Shtanov

Russian Railways can’t wait to get out of the energy business in Transbaikalia / PJSC “Territorial Generating Company No. 14”

Almost 10 years ago, Russian Railways, together with Grigory Berezkin’s Unified Social Tax group, paid about 6 billion rubles. for 83.6% of the heat and power company TGK-14. Since then, Russian Railways has repeatedly tried to get rid of the energy asset, including selling it to the unified social network group. But in 2012, the state monopoly had to buy out its partner’s share.

Now Russian Railways is ready to sell its 39.8% stake in TGK-14. A company representative stated this. VTB Capital was chosen as the financial consultant, its recommendations should be received on November 20. According to Interfax, NPF Blagosostoyanie (40.63%) controlled by Russian Railways may also sell a stake in the energy company. Representatives of Russian Railways and NPF Blagosostoyanie refused to comment on this. The FAS has not yet received any requests for the acquisition of TGK-14, Vitaly Korolev, deputy head of the FAS, conveyed through a representative. At the beginning of Friday, the stakes of Russian Railways and NPF Blagosostoyanie in TGK-14 on the Moscow Exchange were worth 4.2 billion rubles, but by the end of the day the price had risen by 14.22%.

TGC-14 includes seven coal-fired thermal power plants with a total capacity of 649.57 MW. Two of them were put into operation back in 1936. All facilities are located in the Trans-Baikal Territory and Buryatia. The sale of electricity to parent Russian Railways brought TGK-14 only 223.4 million rubles; the main supplier of electricity for the monopoly is Rusenergosbyt, which is part of Berezkin’s Unified Social Tax. Last year, Russian Railways spent 138 billion rubles on the purchase of electricity.

TGK-14 has always been a problematic asset: difficulties in preparing for the autumn-winter period, accidents, a modest number of CSAs (capacity supply agreements guarantee a return of funds with a base yield of 14%, see chart), Renaissance Capital analyst Vladimir Sklyar lists. Within two to three years, payments under the CSA will end and this will have a negative impact on profitability, he expects.

Russian Railways also owns the networks that support the operation of the railway. In 2016, electricity transmission services through Russian Railways networks brought the company 9.9 billion rubles. The Electricity Law prohibits combining the generation, transmission and purchase and sale of electricity, Korolev recalled: the service has repeatedly pointed out to Russian Railways the need to stop violations.

Russian Railways bought a stake in TGK-14 to supply energy to the Baikal-Amur Mainline and the Trans-Siberian Railway, but now the needs of the monopoly are provided by its partners, and TGK-14 is recognized as non-core, says a representative of Russian Railways. Russian Railways bought out the share of the unified social tax in the energy company in the hope of finding a new partner, said the then president of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, five years ago. could have become such a partner back in 2011 Inter RAO , but refused. A representative of Inter RAO said that the company is still not interested in TGK-14. has no such plans Eurosibenergo , which owns energy assets beyond the Urals, , its representative noted. “We are interested in any coal assets if they are sold at a good price,” said a representative of the Siberian Generating Company. TGK-14 may be interested in participating in the energy capacity modernization program, says Sklyar. This program, an analogue of the CSA, should start in the next year or two; its size is estimated at 1.2 trillion rubles.