June 23, 2019, 21:42 / Business

NPF Blagosostoyanie is preparing a deal worth 35 billion rubles

The fund sells the leasing company Transfin-M to the former general director of the Federal Freight Company Alexei Taicher Olga Adamchuk Vladimir Shtanov

Andrey Gordeev / Vedomosti

NPF Blagosostoyanie has found a buyer for one of its largest assets, the leasing company Transfin-M, a person close to the fund and three people close to Transfin-M told Vedomosti. this . also reports Kommersant

The buyer will be the project company Transfin-M Garant. Its main owner is the former general director of the largest railway operator and subsidiary of Russian Railways , the Federal Freight Company (FGK), Alexey Taicher. Its share is about 70%. He is also a co-owner of the railway operator SG Trans. The rest will go to the management of Transfin-M - general director Maxim Anishchenkov, his first deputy Alexander Goland and deputy Ivan Blagodatskikh, three Vedomosti interlocutors said. Teicher joined the board of directors of Transfin-M this year.

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The transaction will be carried out using borrowed funds, the loan will be provided by VTB , say two people close to the company. The company is valued at almost 35 billion rubles, say three people close to different parties to the transaction. The sale price is about 35 billion rubles, confirmed a representative of the NPF Blagosostoyanie, noting that it corresponds to a capital ratio of 1.4: “This is a record for the financial market at the moment.”

Transfin-M is one of the five largest leasing companies; in 2018, the leasing portfolio grew to 290 billion rubles, the company made a profit of 4.4 billion rubles. The company has enough liquidity, assets and liabilities are balanced in terms of terms, Expert-RA analysts admitted in June. Transfin-M provides leasing of wagons, aviation and automotive equipment. The company's total railcar fleet at the beginning of the year was 61,000 units. Part of the park is managed by subsidiaries of the leasing company.

Blagosostoyanie is selling its leasing business due to the regulatory nature of non-state pension funds. Since 2018, the Central Bank has introduced stress testing for pension funds; if there are large investments in one asset, it is difficult to pass. Of almost 400 billion rubles. of the portfolio of NPF Blagosostoyanie, investments in shares and bonds of Transfin-M account for 14–15%, says a person close to the fund.

The Central Bank pointed out the need to reduce the concentration of the fund’s assets, a person close to Transfin-M knows, but for a long time it was not possible to find buyers at a price that suited the fund. The NPF tried to sell the company before the stress test on January 1, the next stress test is on July 1. It is important that the deal takes place before this time, says a person close to the fund.

The request for the deal has been submitted to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), say four people close to different parties to the deal. A FAS representative confirms that the deal is under consideration, but the service has requested additional information from the applicants. Officials are concerned about the doubling of prices for carriage services.

The representative of Transfin-M promises that with the change of owners the company will not leave the leasing market. A source close to the NPF “Blagosostoyanie” also speaks about this.

Over the past 1.5 years in Russia, rates for the provision of cars for gondola cars, which are the most common in the Transfrn-M fleet, have increased by approximately 20–25%, covered cars - by approximately 30-35%, oil tank cars - by 40-45% , General Director of Infoline Analytics Mikhail Burmistrov cites data. Rates grew mainly due to an increase in freight turnover on the Russian Railways network , a slowdown in the turnover of wagons and a general explosive increase in prices for components, the expert explains. According to him, in the second quarter of 2019, rates for the provision of gondola cars stabilized, and when loading from Kuzbass in the southern and western directions they begin to decline due to the fall in coal prices below $50 on the European market.

According to Burmistrov, the FAS has no reason not to approve the deal. Since December 2018, Teicher has been working as an adviser to the general director of Russian Railways , that is, he is not affiliated with the monopoly, and his current business does not intersect with Transfin-M. It is associated with tanks for the transportation of liquefied hydrocarbon gases, while the Transfin-M fleet is dominated by gondola cars and oil tanks, and there are also covered cars and platforms, explains Burmistrov.

With the arrival of Taicher, rental rates and provision of the Transfin-M fleet are unlikely to increase and may even decrease, Burmistrov believes. Taking into account the high debt load of the company and the chosen structure of the transaction - attracting managing partners from among existing managers with the purchase of shares for credit funds - the new owners of Transfin-M will do everything not to lose customers and ensure that all cars are fully loaded, the expert argues. This will ultimately allow you to pay off your debts faster, he notes. The experience of SG-trans shows that Taicher “plays the long game” and knows how to build relationships with key customers, continues Burmistrov: an example of this is the transport joint venture created in 2018 with the main client of SG-trans - Sibur (Petrochemical Transport company). The expert believes that the company will undergo business restructuring and a change in strategy - for example, it may abandon the leasing of aircraft equipment, strengthening its position in promising water transport in addition to the key carriage business.