Install

Get the latest updates as we post them — right on your browser

Today's paper. Last Updated: 02/15/2012

Shuvalov: Tycoons Won't All Get Help

Reuters
DAVOS, Switzerland -- Russia will not write a blank check to save top businessmen hit by the global economic crisis, and the state expects something in return for helping bail them out, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Thursday.

Some of Russia's richest men, who borrowed billions of dollars in the boom years during Vladimir Putin's presidency, face difficulties because the value of collateral they put up as security for major loans has plummeted.

Russia has spent large amounts helping businessmen such as metals tycoon Oleg Deripaska, once Russia's richest man, refinance foreign debt.

But Shuvalov said businessmen should not expect the state to help them with everything and they would have to make compromises.

"We must have understanding. ... We see that many enterprises that we work with, and their shareholders, have started to feel that the state will save them no matter what," he told reporters at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

"Against this background, they have begun to think ... that the state will help them no matter, help them to refinance their foreign debts and give them special programs to buy their production. We have nothing like this in our plans."

Russia has spent about $11 billion through state corporation VEB to refinance companies' foreign debts and had received requests for much more financial help, Shuvalov said.

He gave no details, but VEB chairman Vladimir Dmitriyev told reporters that Russian companies had made bids for about $90 billion to help them restructure their foreign debts.

Russian corporations must pay back $115.7 billion in foreign debt and interest this year, according to government estimates.

Putin told investors in Davos on Wednesday that excessive state intervention in the economy would be a mistaken reaction to the crisis.

He also said businessmen would have to take responsibility for their decisions, although the state would continue to support national champions.

"Just because the enterprise is important and has several tens of thousands of workers, we do not simply intend to give out resources and wait for them to come for more later," said Shuvalov, an influential figure in Putin's government.

"The shareholders and heads of these enterprises must for themselves look at their own personal responsibility," he said.

Deripaska last year used his 25 percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, the world's leading producer of nickel and palladium, as collateral for a $4.5 billion loan from VEB.

Norilsk's largest shareholder, Vladimir Potanin, and Deripaska, who controls aluminum giant United Company RusAl, have proposed pooling their metals assets with other miners to create an entity that would be part-owned by the Kremlin and wipe out their debts.

Also in Business

Inter RAO Looks at RWE Plants

Inter RAO UES, a Russian state-run power generator and exporter, may buy "more than one" plant from RWE to expand into Europe as the German utility sells assets to weather a withdrawal from nuclear energy.

Sberbank Reaches Agreement to Buy VBI With a Discount

Sberbank closed a $660.5 million deal to buy the international arm of Austria's Volksbank on Wednesday as Russia's biggest lender looks to build a base for expansion into Europe's crisis-gripped financial heartland.

Mortgaging to Be Streamlined

The government's mortgage lender is proposing changes to a federal law related to mortgage payments as a way of easing the borrowing process for would-be homeowners.

Real Market Value to Determine Property Tax

If the government's plans come to fruition, this year will be spent completing property evaluations across the country according to market-based standards, paving the way for the implementation of a new property tax, which could partially enter into force as early as 2013.

New Traffic Reduction Measures in Works

Drivers groups have reacted with anger to a radical Transportation Ministry plan that proposes making driving more expensive in a bid to lower the burden on Russia's overcrowded roads.

Moskva Hotel Reopens as Mall

A slew of Moscow real estate players unveiled a reconstructed Moskva Hotel on Tuesday, relaunching the premier Soviet hotel as a commercial center with 70 shops, a department store, underground parking and a hotel.




Discussion
The Moscow Times welcomes your comments and invites you to discuss topics with other readers. Your comment will be posted automatically to enable a live discussion. If you aren't familiar with our comments policy, you can read it here.

If you're a registered user, you can start typing your comment below. If not, take a moment to sign up. and then return to the article.

If your comment doesn't appear, contact us by using our web form.

Comments

Comments via Facebook

print


Comments

This article has no comments.

Be the first to leave a comment





Most Read