Ilyushin Finance Co. Wants to Know
// Who ordered its shares seized
The Aircraft Industry
The Prosecutor General's Office yesterday officially confirmed the seizure of the shareholdings of Vneshekonombank and National Reserve Corporation in the aircraft leasing company OAO Ilyushin Finance Co. [IFK; Kommersant wrote of the seizure yesterday]. The prosecutor's office has confirmed that the shares were seized as a security measure in the investigation of the criminal case against IFK's director, Aleksandr Rubtsov. It is notable that, a week ago, the corporation sent a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Zhukov indicating that the case had been initiated by IFK's rival, Financial Leasing Company.
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On Tuesday, the Prosecutor General's Office seized the shares of Vneshekonombank and private IFK shareholders. Nearly 51 percent of the company's shares were seized, including a package owned by Duma deputy Aleksandr Lebedev's National Reserve Corporation (NRK), structures affiliated with it, and Rubtsov. At the Prosecutor General's Office yesterday, they told Kommersant that the shares had been seized in the criminal case against Rubtsov [Article 201 if the RF Criminal Code – abuse of authority], sent for investigation two weeks ago from the prosecutor's office of Voronezh Region. The Prosecutor General's Office refused further comment; but at IFK, they told Kommersant that, according to the information of IFK's registrar, the shares were seized as a security measure. IFK's lawyer, Boris Megreshvili, added that it does not cover share voting [this is considered alienation or pledging], and the seizure does not prohibit shareholders from participating in meetings.
According to Kommersant's information, the prosecutor's claims concern the formation of IFK's charter capital. The point is that of the 2.5 billion rubles allocated from the budget as payment for the state share in IFK, only 212,000 rubles were transferred to the charter capital. The remaining funds were credited to additional capital due to the difference between the face value and market value of the purchased shares. “This was a joint decision of the board of directors and government officials,” they noted at IFK.
The letter NRK sent to Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Zhukov a week ago says the same. It also suggests that the criminal prosecution of the company's top executive may be advantageous to IFK's only competitor, Financial Leasing Company (FLK). “The 2005 federal budget makes provision for the allocation of 6 billion rubles to increase capital and the future development of the leasing activities of two leasing companies, namely, IFK and FLK,” the letter states. “There is no doubt that the distribution of this money between IFK and FLK was the reason for the appearance of an article in Komsomolskaya Pravda in March 2005…and a statement by an employee of the rival organization, on the basis of which the Prosecutor's Office of Vornoezh Region brought a criminal case against IFK's general manager.” The letter does not say who the employee was.
Evgeny Zaritsky, FLK's general manager, rejected IFK's accusations yesterday, as he had the day before. “We are not competitors, since we operate in different segments and we build different airplanes at different plants. The budget money has already been distributed. I don't understand what our interest is in this. These are insinuations.”
We note that, in fact, the interests and product range of the two companies intersect. FLK specializes in marketing the Tu-214 built by the Kazan Aircraft Production Company, which is a modification of the medium-range Tu-204-100. And IFK is financing the production of a new modification of the Tu-204 – the Tu-204-300 – at Aviastar-SP in Ulyanovsk. In addition, the two companies are starting to compete in the regional aircraft segment. IFK is promoting the Ukrainian–Russian An-148, while FLK reached an agreement with Sukhoi in the spring to lease 50 airplanes comparable in their characteristics to the Russian Regional Jet, which is at the development stage.
Kommersant will be following the development of events.
Sergey Ryzhkin, Vladislav Trifonov
All the Article in Russian as of July 28, 2005
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