Structures of Gleb Fetisov may acquire agricultural holding “Komsomolets”

A buyer has probably been found for the Trans-Baikal agricultural holding Komsomolets, which manages 188,000 hectares of agricultural land. Business companies can acquire the structures of ex-senator Gleb Fetisov, who already has assets in agribusiness. Oil production and export can be developed on the basis of Komsomolets growing rapeseed, experts say.

APK LLC, associated with ex-senator Gleb Fetisov, received preliminary consent from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) to acquire 100% of Komsomolets Breeding Plant JSC. As of mid-2022, Komsomolets managed 188,000 hectares of agricultural land, ranking 30th in Russia in the BEFL ranking. The company grows oilseeds and grains in Transbaikalia, including for export to China. At the end of 2022, Konstantin and Valery Nageli owned 50% of the shares. In March of this year, Konstantin Nagel died, and in May it became known that Komsomolets could be sold. A petition to the Federal Antimonopoly Service for the purchase of an asset was submitted by the structure of a large producer of vegetable oils, the Yug Rusi Group of Companies (see Kommersant dated May 29). In the “South of Rus'” declined to comment.

The agro-industrial complex is owned by Irriko LLC, which is owned by the ZPIF Signet – Investments 1, managed by Signet Capital. This company is owned by Pavel Polukhin, CEO of the Gubernsky consortium, whose beneficiary is Gleb Fetisov. “Irriko” owns the agricultural holding “Yakhroma” with assets in the Moscow region and the Tambov region and the Stavropol GC “Irriko”. The total land bank is more than 40 thousand hectares, where potatoes, open-field vegetables and grain are grown. Structures of “Irriko” were also interested in buying three more farms that manage about 40 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the Nizhny Novgorod, Bryansk and Astrakhan regions (see “Kommersant” on February 1). In “Irriko”, “Signet Capital” and “Komsomolets” “Kommersant” did not promptly respond.

A Kommersant source familiar with the situation said that the deal between the structures of Irriko and Komsomolets is at its final stage. According to him, the valuation of the asset takes into account mainly the debt burden. At the end of 2022, the long-term and short-term liabilities of Komsomolets exceeded 2.2 billion rubles, according to financial statements. The company’s revenue over the past year increased by 14.9%, to 586.45 million rubles, net loss – 104.82 million rubles. As noted in the Komsomolets report, in 2022, difficult weather conditions led to the postponement of the harvesting campaign and violations of shipments to buyers, the business was complicated by increased duties on rapeseed exports and an increase in production costs due to Western sanctions.

Andrey Sizov, the director of Sovecon, says that the new owner can reshuffle the management and try to increase the efficiency of the agricultural holding. The size of Komsomolets’ land bank and remote location make management extremely difficult, he points out. Director General of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies Dmitry Rylko believes that the land is probably inexpensive and on the basis of the asset it is possible to continue growing rapeseed for export to China. But crops take only a share of the crop rotation, and the markets for the rest of the products are not entirely clear, he adds. The export of rapeseed from the Russian Federation is prohibited until August 31 this year with exceptions for deliveries through the Zabaikalsk checkpoint.

Andrey Sizov notes that the development of rapeseed processing on the raw material base of Komsomolets may become promising. According to him, China is one of the largest buyers of rapeseed oil in the world and the main direction for Russian export of this product. According to Sovecon, from the beginning of the season in September 2022 to April 2023, 955 thousand tons of rapeseed oil were produced in Russia against 563 thousand tons a season earlier. According to Kommersant’s shipment data, more than 500,000 tons have been exported to China this season.

As Mr. Sizov notes, Gleb Fetisov, who has experience with Chinese business, can also attract a strategic investor from the country to Komsomolets in order to promptly return part of the investment and, in the future, facilitate supplies to China. As Forbes wrote, Mr. Fetisov has been dealing with China since 2004 and managed an investment bank in the country.

Anatoly Kostyrev