Rebranding "Basel -cement" Deripaska, 1% for Gref, VTB as Sberbank, gas and animals instead of spouses

Deripaska transforms the business due to rebranding. If the goal is to avoid sanctions, this will help little

Oleg Deripaska. Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

Sanctions with Rusal and En+ have been lifted, but the transformation of the business of Oleg Deripaska seems to be just beginning. As The Bell found out, one of the largest companies in its “basic element”, “Bazelzament”, this spring changed the name, trademarks, and at the same time the founders. Now representatives of Deripaska claim that she has nothing to do with him or sanctions. There are two versions-either Deripaska has come into an eating asset from the sanctions, or simply tried to hide it, lawyers say. Both will be easy to establish the US Treasury.

• As it became known to The Bell, in February one of the large companies, which was previously part of the “basic element” of Oleg Deripaska, namely, his cement holding “Bazelzament” replaced the name. Now this is the group "Mikom". In March 2019, the company registered domains and trademarks for this name - the logos on them look almost the same as the Bazell cement logo.
• The main goal of rebranding is to get away from associations with a sanctions list, in which since April 2018, both Deripaska and Bazel are located, the current company’s current and former employees told.
• The company itself claims that the sanctions have nothing to do with it. ““ Baselz -chamber ”implies cement, and“ Somik ” - building materials,” said Vyacheslav Shmatov, the long -term director of Bazel -cement. “We are engaged not only in cement, but also with lime, gypsum, aerated concrete, reinforced concrete products and other <...> renaming is in no way connected with sanctions.” When asked whether the company still belongs to Deripaska’s structures, Shmatov advised to contact Bazel, the representative of Deripaska did not answer the request of The Bell.
• Oleg Deripaska and an offshore called Basic Element fell into a tough sanctions SDN list in April 2018. The defendants in this list are prohibited from any business ties not only with American citizens and companies, but also with any others under the threat of secondary sanctions against counterparties. Up to this point, Bazel on its now non -working site indicated Bazellzzent among its largest assets.
• Legally, since 2008, Bazelezzent belongs to the Cyprus Langdale Holdings Ltd. In 2013-2018, Deripaska and Basic Element owned this offshore through the chain of companies. But in October last year - six months after the imposition of sanctions - the new owner of 86.7% of Langdale was the Russian Libra Holdings LLC. Its founder was Arkady Sargsyan, he still continues to own 20% of the company. Forbes represented him as a former head of the Sayan aluminum plant and a person who was responsible for the safety of Deripaska during aluminum wars in the 1990s. And Sargsyan was a deputy of the State Duma and a senator from Khakassia.
• Two interlocutors of The Bell, close to the cement business of Deripaska, say that the businessman still has to do with him. Indirectly at the end of May, this was confirmed by the Minister of Economics Maxim Oreshkin, saying that the seven companies of the “basic element”, including Langdale Holdings, registered in the internal offshore on the Oktyabrsky Island in the Kaliningrad region. But the next day, the representative of Deripaska denied the words of Oreshkin, saying that the businessman has nothing to do with Langdale and other companies registered in October.
• If at the time of Bazelezzent’s sanctions more than 50% was controlled by Deripaska or its structures, the company itself automatically found itself under sanctions (and, according to the rules of the US Ministry of Finance, it is not necessary to even separate it separately for this in sanctions). This means that any restructuring of the Bazelezzent business is most likely obliged to coordinate with the US Ministry of Finance, says Denis Primakov, adviser to special types of compliance with PEN & PEPER.
• If the procedure was ignored and the ultimate goal of the transaction was bypassing the sanctions regime, the consequences for all persons involved in the transaction will be sad, says the managing partner of the law firm, Art de Lex, Dmitry Magonia. Responsibility can be different, from fines to the inclusion of all involved in SDN list.

What's next

“Rebranding as such from sanctions will help little,” says Primakov. “Helps the restructuring of the business in order to leave the beneficiaries of suction persons.” “Perhaps the new brand can help that the company's partners do not emotionally associate it with a suction holding,” admits Norton Rose Fulbright Alexei Borodak.

MONEY

Sberbank requested a percentage

Herman Gref requested 1% of the amount of transfer as a special condition for the accession of Sberbank to the system of quick payments (SBP) of the Central Bank. This is a lot: taking into account the fact that last year the volume of transfers from card to card in Russia exceeded cash withdrawal, we are talking about hundreds of billions of rubles. The Central Bank insists on general conditions and the speedy entry of the State Bank into the system. Sberbank, unlike competitors, will freely do without SBP: it already has 90% of card transfers and his own worked out system. In the case of a forced connection, the State Bank will be able to gently sabotage the system - for example, highly complicating the translation process. There is no doubt that the confrontation between the monopolist and regulator will develop further.

VTB wants to be like a Sberbank

VTB is trying to catch a digital transformation train - back in January, the bank announced a tender for the development of a strategy for creating its own digital ecosystem, and now, as Vedomosti found out , he wrote this goal in his new development strategy until 2023. At this point, VTB wants to become bank No. 1 in the client’s wallet and a leader in terms of user satisfaction, as well as create a full-fledged lifstail platform for them with a spectrum of health services to rest. VTB wants to provide 100% of products online, and sell 50% of sales remotely. As it is supposed to be achieved, it is not said in the strategy, but it is unlikely that Sberbank can be caught up on this path - German Gref Bank has already prepared for the decisive battle of ecosystems with its main competitor, Yandex. We wrote about her in detail here .

Oil workers will be forced to return gasoline

In Russia, a new wave of the fuel crisis, but so far it is possible to restrain it due to manual management and small tax twists. Kommersant found out that at a meeting with the government on May 24, oil workers pledged to redirect gasoline from exports to the domestic market, and the Ministry of Finance almost agreed to them increased compensation for fuel sales in Russia - however, by increasing NPI for prey. This does not solve systemic problems: fuel exports are more profitable for sales at fixed prices, prices in the wholesale market almost equalized with retail, independent gas stations work at a loss. The Association of gas station has already warned the Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak that the fuel crisis of spring-summer 2018 may repeat herself.

PRACTICE

Animals instead of spouses

Millennials postpone their marriage and make children late - pets are occupied by the vacant niche, which young people start in an attempt to brighten up loneliness. Business Insider tells how brands are trying to earn on pets, for whom the new generation takes care of as their children. For example, the Petco pet store has opened real restaurants in several departments in which the chef is prepared by any dish for someone's favorite from selected ingredients, and Walmart-veterchas in one hundred of its stores. Pets feed brands also did not pass: Pedigree, Purina and a number of others have almost simultaneously released premium ruler for "gourmets" among pets. The increased interest of millennials in animals led to the fact that the expected growth of the market for pets by 2023 in North America alone will be more than $ 280 billion.

How to talk about a salary at an interview

One of the most inconvenient issues in the interview concerns salary expectations. It seems that there simply cannot be the correct answer, but this is not so, says Quartz. First of all, such questions should not be afraid - if you were invited to an interview, then you are already interested in you as a specialist, and one unsuccessful answer is unlikely to be able to spoil the overall impression. It is better not to cunning about salary expectations and call the amount that you really count on. Such questions are just an attempt to understand what the minimum salary must be paid for your transition to the company. Moreover, this question can not be answered at all. Then, instead of specific amounts, they advise you to report that you would prefer to focus on the story about the experience and value that you can bring to the company - from this story a recruiter and can easily understand what level of salary you should offer.