“Kommersant” learned about the withdrawal from the shareholders of “Volga-Dnepr” of its founder

The founder and main owner of the Volga-Dnepr group of companies, Alexei Isaikin, who fell under sanctions, will leave the company’s shareholders and transfer control to management. About it informs “Kommersant” with reference to sources in the aviation market.

The information was also confirmed by the representative of the air group. “Alexey Isaikin, the founder of the Volga-Dnepr airline, after 45 years of work in the aviation industry, decided to withdraw from the company’s shareholders and transfer control to management,” he said.

According to the interlocutors of the newspaper in the market, Isaikin withdraws from the capital of all foreign assets that he owns: Alpine Prosperity Foundation (Liechtenstein), Gloria 7 Sa rl (Luxembourg), Volga-Dnepr Logistics BV (Netherlands), CargoLogic Germany and CargoLogicAir (UK) .

The decision was made in connection with the British sanctions, under which Isaikin fell in June. Thus, the company wants to reduce the risks for the activities of international companies and avoid the threat of blocking accounts.

The Volga-Dnepr group includes three airlines: Volga-Dnepr of the same name, AirBridgeCargo and Atran. According to SPARK-Interfax, 49% of the first of them since 2020 belongs to Volga-Dnepr Logistics BV registered in the Netherlands, another 51% is owned by the Volga-Dnepr-Moscow management company (fully included in Volga-Dnepr Logistics BV) . AirBridgeCargo and Atran belong to these structures in the same shares. Isaykin has 100% in the Alpine Prosperity Foundation, the parent company of the Volga-Dnepr group.

The terms of the deal and the new composition of shareholders were not disclosed. It is possible that Volga-Dnepr-Moscow got rid of foreign complicity and will now be fully owned by top managers. Among them, sources name Sergei Shklyanik, Sergei Pedan and Valery Gabriel, who at various times were co-owners of the airline.

According to the Federal Air Transport Agency, in January-February 2022, the Volga-Dnepr group occupied more than 50% of the Russian air cargo transportation market. Its business was aimed at the global market, but since the beginning of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, the company’s activities have declined sharply.

In mid-March, the press service of Volga-Dnepr reported that AirBridgeCargo and Atran had suspended flights due to sanctions against lessors who were banned from working with Russian companies and statements from the Bermuda Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA) to terminate airworthiness certificates.

Also, the work of the air group was affected by EU sanctions against the Russian aviation industry: a ban on the sale of spare parts and a ban on flights of Russian air carriers to Europe.

In early August, it became known that Volga-Dnepr had laid off more than 200 pilots in its subsidiaries AirBridgeCargo and Atran flying on Boeing aircraft. At the same time, the company retained several crews in case the Ministry of Transport allows the air group to return the aircraft to foreign leasing companies.

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