Distributor VVP Group wants to start producing TVs at the Kaluga Samsung plant

According to Kommersant, the distributor VVP Group wants to start producing televisions at the Kaluga Samsung plant. We can talk about both the production of equipment under our own brand and contract assembly services. Experts believe that in the future the company will be able to produce other equipment, including washing machines. A number of Kommersant’s interlocutors claim that VVP Group acquired the enterprise in Kaluga in whole or in part, but Samsung emphasizes that there are no plans to sell the capacity.

According to two Kommersant interlocutors in the electronics market, the VVP Group company will begin producing electronics at the facilities of the Kaluga Samsung enterprise (owned by Samsung Electronics Rus Kaluga LLC). The company, according to one of the sources, bought or leased a line for the production of televisions and plans to produce equipment both under its own brand and for other companies. Another Kommersant source in the market also knows that VVP Group and Samsung Electronics Rus Kaluga were negotiating the sale or lease of capacity.

At the same time, a Samsung representative told Kommersant that there are no plans to sell “capacity in Kaluga.” The Ministry of Industry and Trade and VVP Group did not answer Kommersant’s questions.

After the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, a number of household appliance manufacturers announced the freeze of their production in the Russian Federation, including Samsung, LG and Bosch. Then companies began to sell production facilities or rent them out. Thus, Bosch sold production in Strelna to the Turkish Can Holding, and LG leased facilities in the Moscow region to DNS (see “Kommersant” dated December 7 and 19, 2023).

The founder of the household appliances manufacturer Jacky’s, Gusein Imanov, told Kommersant that, according to his information, VVP Group acquired the Kaluga plant from Samsung and the deal may include the right to repurchase the enterprise by the Korean vendor. Mr. Imanov clarified that VVP Group plans to begin production of washing machines in Kaluga in the future, but due to the complexity of the debugging process, this process will take longer than the launch of TV production.

Kommersant’s interlocutor among retailers disagrees with this. In his opinion, it is unprofitable to set up production of washing machines and refrigerators at the Samsung plant due to high costs compared to already localized competitors, as well as the difficulty of selling finished products due to inflated prices. “But television equipment should be in demand from Chinese and Russian manufacturers; it is easier to launch its contract assembly at a South Korean plant,” he admits.

Samsung factories for the production of televisions and large household appliances are two different assembly plants that can operate independently, explains Dmitry Levin, managing director of the large household appliances department at Marvel Distribution. “If they don’t plan to launch the production of washing machines and refrigerators, then most likely these capacities were simply not included in the deal,” the top manager believes.

Mr. Levin calls a sale with an option to buy back “a type of lease that allows you to return an asset at the right time.” He does not undertake to evaluate the transaction, since the value of such assets “is now more political than market,” noting that “the line of televisions is small.”

Timofey Kornev