The pharmacist will fold the cardboard – Newspaper Kommersant No. 1 (7446) of 01/09/2023
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The owner of Pharmstandard, Vladimir Kharitonin, who failed to get Mondi’s largest Russian asset, Mondi Syktyvkar TPC, last year, may buy another large timber industry enterprise. According to Kommersant’s information, the businessman’s structures plan to acquire the only manufacturer of bleached cardboard in Russia – Kama LLC. The deal could be closed in January. Analysts consider the acquisition promising, since Pharmstandard is a major consumer of this pulp and paper mill’s products.
As it became known to Kommersant, the structure of the owner of Pharmstandard, Vladimir Kharitonin, plans to complete the acquisition of Kama LLC from Trust Bank (combines PPM, Kamabumprom and Kama Karton) in the near future. According to one of Kommersant’s sources on the market, the Federal Antimonopoly Service has already approved the deal.
Kommersant’s interlocutors explain that it was planned to close it at the end of 2022, but then the deadlines were shifted to January.
According to them, Mr. Kharitonin has already visited the enterprise and “appreciated his work positively.” Kommersant’s sources add that Pharmstandard is a major buyer of Kama’s packaging board.
It was not possible to get comments from Vladimir Kharitonin; the FAS and the Kama PPM did not respond to Kommersant’s request. The press service of the bank of non-core assets “Trust” noted that “there is no information on the asset that would be worth commenting on.”
Krasnokamsk pulp and paper mill was built in 1933. Kama Karton LLC was established in 2016 by former shareholders of FC Otkritie Vadim Belyaev and Sergey Gordeev. In April 2021, the plant launched the first production of coated cardboard in Russia. In December 2016, Kama Karton attracted most of the funds for its construction (19.4 billion rubles out of the required 29.3 billion rubles) in the form of a loan from Otkritie Bank. In 2017, the credit line was closed due to the reorganization of the bank, while the shares of CBK remained as a pledge to the creditor. In November 2018, with the approval of the FAS, the assets of the Kama group were completely transferred to Otkritie. Almost immediately it was decided to sell them.
In April 2021, Chairman of the Board of Otkritie Mikhail Zadornov spokethat in a three-year perspective, after reaching the full capacity of the production of coated cardboard, it is planned to sell the asset to a profile investor. “We will sell when we get a satisfactory estimate,” he said. However, already in February 2022, Kama was transferred to Trust Bank “for further sale to the market” for 13.6 billion rubles. with a book value of 8.5 billion rubles. It was planned to look for a new buyer for the assets after they reached their full capacity of 220 thousand tons of coated cardboard per year.
The plant was supposed to reach this indicator in 2023, but was able to do it already by the end of 2022 thanks to sanctions and the withdrawal from Russia of foreign suppliers of coated cardboard, whose share was taken by Kama.
Despite the attractiveness of the asset, there was no fight for it on the market, Kommersant’s sources assure.
In the current situation, they note, even the largest profile players in the forestry sector are “preoccupied with their own problems and direct funds for the implementation of planned investment programs.”
Vladimir Kharitonin was already trying to buy another timber industry asset in August 2022: his company Augment Investments Limited entered into an agreement with the Mondi international group on the sale of Mondi Syktyvkar LPK JSC for 95 billion rubles. The plant is one of the largest Russian paper producers with a capacity of about 1.3 million tons per year. But the deal did not receive the approval of the Russian authorities and slowed down.
According to WhatWood experts, Pulp and Paper Mill and the only coated board plant in Russia is “a good purchase considering that the demand for packaging will only grow”. At the same time, the market believes that the presence of synergy with other assets of the new owner further increases the value of the company. Kommersant’s interlocutors estimate the value of Kama’s assets at the level of the Trust and Otkritie deal with a small premium – 14-15 billion rubles.
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