Sberbank and VTB may take over Utair for a regional airline project

Sberbank and VTB, which are developing an airline project for the development of regional transportation, can take over Utair for this purpose by converting debt to Sberbank into shares. Vedomosti writes about this with reference to sources.

You can use Utair in the project without receiving a share in it, but simply by concluding a transportation agreement, two of them say. The latter option would be more transparent. The carrier for the project could then be selected through a competition; there are other contenders besides Utair.

The option to “take over” Utair arose because the company has huge debts, primarily to Sberbank. The Ministry of Transport at one of the recent meetings on Utair’s debts stated that there is an instruction from the president not to bankrupt the airline, says a participant in the meeting.

Utair is the fourth largest airline in Russia; it owes 11 banks under two syndicated loans 38.6 billion rubles. Sberbank accounts for approximately 30 billion rubles, more than half of the airline's bank debt.