The former structure of Sberbank “SBK Premier” became the shareholder of the former assets of Rinat Akhmetov in the Rostov region

The shareholder of the former coal assets of Rinat Akhmetov in the Rostov region, Donskoy Anthracite and the Obukhovskaya mine, became SBC Premier, formerly a structure of Sberbank (now the owners are not disclosed). Sberbank received these assets on collateral in 2021 and sold them at auction for $230 million. In 2022, their owner, according to reports, was businessman Iskender Khalilov, who later denied his involvement in this business. Return on assets fell sharply in 2022 due to the impossibility of deliveries to the Ukrainian market.

“SBK Premier” (was a structure of Sberbank, now the data on the owners are closed) received the rights of a shareholder of the former coal assets of the Ukrainian businessman Rinat Akhmetov in the Rostov region – “Donskoy anthracite” and the mine management “Obukhovskaya”. According to Fedresurs, in May 2023, SBC Premier applied to the Federal Tax Service with a statement on the exercise of shareholder rights in respect of assets whose shares are registered in the Cypriot structure Fabcell Limited. On June 7, the Federal Tax Service granted the request of SBC Premier.

These enterprises have changed ownership several times in recent years. Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK bought them in June 2012, paying $39 million for Obukhovskaya Mine Administration OJSC, Donskoy Anthracite OJSC and a 66.7% stake in Sulinanthracite LLC, which was then merged with Donskoy Anthracite. In September 2016, as part of the restructuring of the loan portfolio, DTEK Energy transferred the Obukhovskaya Mine Administration, together with loans raised from Sberbank in the amount of $436 million, to the direct ownership of the parent company DTEK BV. coal and the ruble exchange rate.

Then DTEK began to think about getting rid of these assets, in June 2021 announcing such plans. In April 2022, DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said in an interview with Ekonomicheskaya Pravda that the Rostov mines were pledged to Sberbank and were transferred to the bank as part of DTEK’s debt write-off. As Kommersant wrote on May 4, 2022, in November 2021, Sberbank sold the Cypriot Valleyton Investments shares of both enterprises, as well as the right to claim loans issued to them, at an auction in November 2021. The deal amounted to $230 million, while the documentation for the auction says that the debt on the syndicated loan was $446.8 million. Who exactly was the real beneficiary of Valleyton Investments is unknown.

The reporting of Donskoy Anthracite states that as of March 4, 2022, Iskender Khalilov was the owner of the Cypriot parent structure Fabcell Limited. The businessman himself denied to Kommersant his participation in this business. Donskoy Anthracite, according to the company’s financial statements, made a request to the Cypriot company about its beneficiaries on January 31, 2023, but at the time of publication of the financial statements, no information was provided upon request.

In 2022, the financial and operating results of the assets deteriorated. The reports of the Obukhovskaya mine administration say that in 2022, the shipment of coal to DTEK Trading was stopped “due to the introduction of economic sanctions against the Russian Federation”, while DTEK Trading SA owed the company 10.3 billion rubles. Coal production at Obukhovskaya decreased by 28.03%, to 1.5 million tons of coal, revenue decreased by 11.7%, to 11.6 billion rubles. The loss amounted to 7.8 billion rubles. against 2 billion rubles. net profit in 2021. Donskoy Anthracite reduced its revenue by 16% to 2.4 billion rubles, while net profit amounted to 6.4 billion rubles. against a loss of 101 million rubles. in 2021 at the expense of one-time income.

Formally, SBK Premier may need to obtain special permission from the President of the Russian Federation to establish control over Rostov assets, since they are registered to an “unfriendly” Cypriot structure. However, as Ekaterina Makeeva, partner and head of sanctions practice at A-PRO, notes, the legislation provides for an exception for persons who disclose themselves as controlled foreign companies. Judging by the data of Fedresurs, in May, SBK-Premier LLC published two messages in which, in particular, it confirms that it is a controlling person of a foreign organization that is a shareholder of Donskoy Anthracite JSC and Obukhovskaya Mine Administration JSC and , respectively, should fall under the exception, the lawyer concludes.

Evgeny Zainullin