“Trust” is replenished with land – Newspaper Kommersant No. 67 (7512) dated 04/18/2023

Bank “Trust”, controlled by the Central Bank, which last year managed to sell non-core assets for 113 billion rubles, replenishes the portfolio again. “Trust” bought out 60% of a closed investment fund that owns more than 300 hectares in the Moscow region. Experts do not rule out that in the future these plots can be sold for housing development or logo parks for 500–700 million rubles, which significantly exceeds the amount of the current deal.

Bank “Trust” redeemed at auction in early April owned by the bankrupt OOO “Walter” 3.4 thousand shares of the closed investment fund “Land Resources” for 100 million rubles, follows from the results of the auction. The Trust explained to Kommersant that they acquired 60% of the fund, which owns about 304 hectares of agricultural land in the Ramensky and Solnechnogorsk regions of the Moscow region. According to them, this deal will allow them to receive more fees from their sale in the future. Who owns the remaining 40% of this fund, the company did not comment.

Trust is 99.9% owned by the Central Bank. According to the original strategic plan, Trust, which accumulated non-core assets inherited by the Central Bank as part of the bankruptcy of other banks, should complete work by 2024. By this time, the bank must sell all assets, having collected 482 billion rubles from their sale. for the Central Bank. But later, the head of the Trust, Alexander Sokolov, said that the sale of assets could last until 2025.

At the end of last year, the assets of Trust decreased by 62.1 billion rubles in 2022, follows from its reporting under RAS. Then the bank withdrew from a number of assets, in general, having received income from transactions of 74 billion rubles. In particular, Inteko was sold to Alexey Tulupov’s Sminex, Geotek, Zerno Don, Atakaycement and others. Collections from non-core assets at the end of last year amounted to 113 billion rubles, of which the Central Bank returned 52 billion rubles.

At the same time, the bank received new assets. So, in 2022, FC Otkritie sold Kama, a coated cardboard manufacturer, to Trust, but then the company was resold for 36 billion rubles. to the owner of the Pharmstandard pharmaceutical holding, Viktor Kharitonin (see Kommersant of February 3). Trust also bought Tochka and Baltic Leasing from Otkritie. In general, in 2022, Otkritie sold assets to Trust for 52.5 billion rubles.

The transaction for the purchase of shares in the Land Resources Fund turned out to be beneficial for the Trust. Referring to the statements of the management company of this fund, Natalya Kruglova, adviser to the general director of the Russian Auction House, says that the bank bought shares at a third below the market value. At the same time, the bank will be able to sell these assets for 500-700 million rubles, the partner of Ricci | M&A” Petr Vinogradov. But to find one buyer for the entire lot for such an amount is unlikely to succeed, the general director of the Geo Development Group of Companies, Maxim Leshchev, doubts.

A potential buyer of these lands could be a developer specializing in the sale of land plots for individual housing construction and having experience in preparing them for sale on the market, independent expert Andrei Novikov believes. However, he recalls, additional funds will be needed for land surveying and the creation of infrastructure. The demand for these sites will be determined primarily by the plans of the authorities to develop the transport infrastructure, notes Petr Vinogradov.

In addition, it will be necessary to transfer the plots from the category of agricultural to the lands of settlements. This procedure takes a long time and is expensive, Maxim Leshchev warns. Key Capital Consulting and Development Director Evelina Ishmetova believes that these plots can also be used for agricultural activities if agricultural holdings are interested in them. In this case, it will not be necessary to re-register the purpose of the land, the expert adds.

Natalya Kruglova believes that the best use of these sites will be the construction of industrial and warehouse real estate. “Now the light industrial segment is actively developing (warehouses with industrial sites.— “b”), there is an increased demand for high-quality industrial-type sites,” she notes. According to NF Group, no more than 1.2% of warehouse space is currently free in Moscow and the Moscow region. In addition, the Trust sites are located near major highways – the Central Ring Road, Leningradskoye Highway, Novo-Ryazanskoye Highway, at a distance of about 25-35 km from the Moscow Ring Road, which, according to Ms. Kruglova, increases their attractiveness for warehouse developers and future tenants.

Daria Andrianova