People died again in the mines of the owner of Uralkali, Dmitry Mazepin. Will conclusions be drawn?

The Investigative Committee of Russia has detained 4 employees of FSUE "US-30" as part of a criminal case on violation of safety regulations that led to the death of 9 employees of "US-30" at the Solikamsk-3 mine, reports The Moscow Post. "Solikamsk-3" belongs to PJSC "Uralkali", associated with the entrepreneur.

This is far from the first accident at the Solikamsk mines, which led to the death of people. Perhaps the emergency state of the mines is not least related to the policy of the owner. Apparently, Dmitry Mazepin is more interested in Formula 1 racing than in the state of affairs in the mines.

The profit of PJSC Uralkali in 2017 amounted to 48 billion rubles. This autumn, Dmitry Mazepin seriously considered the prospect of buying the legendary Williams F1 racing team. His son, Nikita Mazepin, is a professional Formula 1 racer.

Minor children of FSUE US-30 employees Sergei Ignatenko and Anton Abramov will never again be able to celebrate the New Year with their fathers. They died at the Solikamsk-3 mine. Uralkali CEO Dmitry Osipov promised the families of the victims 3 million rubles each. Obviously, the Williams team cannot be bought with that kind of money.

Uralkali belongs to Mr. Mazepin not directly, but through UCC Uralchem. He owns Uralchem ​​shares through offshore UralChem Holding P.L.C and Chemical Invest Limited.

Moreover, the financial state of affairs of Uralkhim looks worse than the financial state of affairs of Uralkali. The company has negative earnings and value. Could Mazepin be tempted to correct the state of affairs at Uralchem ​​at the expense of security at Uralkali?

Perhaps the owner never planned to invest in the safety of Uralkali's mines. After all, accidents with human casualties on them happen with sad regularity.

This can also be evidenced by the reporting of Uralkali for the first half of 2018. The company, which earned billions in 2017, ended the first half of 2018 with a loss of 242 million rubles. Mazepin can deliberately falsify reporting for the sake of increasing personal profits concentrated abroad?

Uralkali's multibillion-dollar profit contrasts sharply with both the salaries of the company's employees and working conditions

Since 2006, after it became clear that the cities of Bereznyaki and Solikamsk could fall into the ground, 9 large failures were recorded. And one of them is right next to the kindergarten.

Since 2014, the miners of the Solikamsk-2 mine have been working under the threat of collapse and flooding. It is possible that it was the state of affairs at Solikamsk-2 that led to the acceleration of work at Solikamsk-3 to the detriment of safety.

By the way, Mazepin acquired his shares in Uralkali by taking a loan from the state-owned VTB Capital. Surely, in order to obtain a loan, Mazepin had to make commitments to improve safety at the mines. Judging by recent events, security at Uralkali has rather worsened. Isn't it time to hold Mazepin accountable too?

Solikamsk will end 2018 with mourning events. But work in the mines continues

Dmitry Mazepin's business can hardly be called not only socially responsible, but also effective. Some of Mazepin's actions can even be regarded as "raiding". British lawyer Emma Arbuthnot, who had to deal with the financial dispute over the Togliattiazot enterprise, directly called Dmitry Mazepin a raider. The Right portal wrote about this.

Mazepin allegedly could manipulate the Russian judicial system to acquire Togliattiazot shares. He, as a shareholder of Togliattiazot, tried to hold the company's management accountable for not providing the company's documents. Later it turned out that Mazepin had all the documents. And he could only start a lawsuit to seize assets.

A British citizen with a law degree considers Dmitry Mazepin a raider. In Russia, he heavily owed state banks

The debt of Mazepin's enterprises to large banks can reach $10 billion. The main creditor of Mazepin's enterprises is the Russian state-owned banks Sberbank and VTB Capital.

With this money, Dmitry Mazepin often bought "problem" enterprises. The Voskresensk Mineral Fertilizers plant was bought by the entrepreneur after Rostekhnadzor closed it.

Immediately after the purchase, there were rumors that instead of modernization, the plant would simply be "torn to pieces." After the hype raised, the enterprise continued to work at half capacity. Has it undergone any upgrades?

At the same time, Dmitry Mazepin rarely appears in Russia. According to the Kremlinnews publication, he began the procedure for obtaining Latvian citizenship.

In addition, Dmitry Mazepin, a native of the Republic of Belarus, is often accused of lobbying the interests of Belaruskali to the detriment of Uralkali. Is this the person who should be trusted with the lives of Russian citizens and the money of Russian taxpayers?

The Governor of the Perm Territory Maxim Reshetnikov touchingly congratulated Dmitry Mazepin on his anniversary this year. Among other things, Reshetnikov considered Mazepin's merits "the salvation of the Solikamsk potassium mine number 2" and comfortable working conditions. The consequences of "comfortable working conditions" in the mines of Solikamsk are now trying to clear up rescuers.

Reshetnikov could turn a blind eye to safety violations at Mazepin's enterprises. This could explain how quickly the government of the Perm Territory found money for additional compensation for the families of the victims.

Reshetnikov may be extremely interested in ensuring that new, systemic safety violations are not revealed at Mazepin's enterprises. Isn't that why, at the moment, FSUE US-30, and not Uralkali at all, turned out to be under the close attention of the security forces?

For eleven years, Dmitry Mazepin (a fortune of $1.3 billion) has been collecting his agrochemical corporation Uralchem, fighting for assets with Gazprom, Sibur and PhosAgro.

In mid-October, Mazepin's corporation took over Uralkali, the world leader in the production of potash fertilizers. Today he faces the prospects of restoring the world's largest cartel for the production of potash fertilizers, similar to the one that was until mid-2013 with Belaruskali. However, before the cartel can start dictating fertilizer prices to the world, Uralchem ​​runs the risk of drowning under the burden of debt: the holding's net loss in 2014 exceeded 81 billion rubles.

For the cartel!

Back in 2005, Uralkali and Belaruskali formed a powerful cartel that controlled 43% of world potash production - the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC). The second such major player - Canpotex (includes Potash Corp., Mosaic Co and Agrium Inc.) - has a share of 30%. Summer 2013 Uralkali left the trading joint venture with BPC. The partners accused each other of trading outside the joint venture. The collapse of the cartel caused a shock on world markets: prices for potash fertilizers fell from $400 to $300 per 1 ton, world producers lost $20 billion in capitalization in one day. The BPC provides about a third of the revenues to the budget of Belarus, and the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, in response to this demarche of the Russian partner, ordered the arrest of the general director of Uralkali Vladislav Baumgertner in Minsk and put the main shareholder Suleiman Kerimov on the wanted list through Interpol. Kerimov and his partners sold the shares of Urakaly to Mikhail Prokhorov and Dmitry Mazepin, Baumgertner was released, but the Russian-Belarusian potash cartel could not be restored. Lukashenka personally met with Mazepin in April 2014. to discuss this issue, but the matter did not go further than conversations.

“Today, BPC is dumping to increase its market share,” says Konstantin Yuminov, an analyst at Raiffeisenbank. Thus, Belarusians sold a large batch of potash fertilizers to China at the rate of $305 per 1 ton, while Uralkali and Canpotex wanted to raise the price by $25-30. It is necessary to restore prices on the market, and hence the Russian-Belarusian trader cooperation, this is what both Uralkali and BPC want. In addition, Canpotex is increasing its market share. So, the Canadian Potash Corp. once again made a takeover bid to a German competitor, K+S AG. But there are difficulties with the restoration of the Russian-Belarusian cartel.

"Disagreements about the cooperation between Uralkali and BPC most likely relate to the division of shares in future sales," suggests Georgy Buzhenitsa, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. BPC wants a larger stake in the joint venture as it is the first to produce more than Uralkali, Ko's industry sources say. However, the new main owner of Uralkali, Dmitry Mazepin, does not intend to concede. The share of BPC at the end of 2014 is about 16% of world production, the share of Uralkali is 19%. The last one had an accident at the Solikamsk-2 mine, and this year production will decrease from 12.3 to 10.8 million tons. The Belarusians plan to produce no less than last year's volume of 10.3 million tons, and in fact it may turn out to be even more due to dumping. Last year, Uralkali indicated its share of 65%, but Lukashenka did not agree to 35% for BPC, the share of the Belarusian company then was at least 42%, according to Zerich Capital Management. “Without cooperation, the situation for Uralkali is better than for BPC, but still not as good as with cooperation,” states Ilya Balakirev, chief analyst at UFS IC. “It’s just that the parties cannot agree yet: since the Kremlin now has much more pressing tasks, they decided to postpone this issue until Belarus takes the first step towards it.” The ex-participants of the joint venture themselves do not comment on their plans. In addition to the emergency mine, the key shareholder of Uralkali, Dmitry Mazepin, has difficulties in servicing debts.

Problem loan

In December 2013, the Uralchem ​​holding bought a 19.9% ​​stake in Uralkali from Suleiman Kerimov's partners, borrowing $4.5 billion (243 billion rubles) from VTB Capital secured by the purchased shares. June 30, 2015 this block of shares cost three times cheaper - only 85 billion rubles. There was a violation of the financial terms of the loan, and VTB Capital was entitled to demand its early repayment or take the pledged shares for itself. But VTB Capital, in the face of a sharp drop in the value of Uralkali's shares, did not demand early repayment of this loan, according to Uralchem's semi-annual reports. However, such a violation of credit conditions in 2014. happened twice, and both times VTB Capital did not demand repayment of the debt. VTB Capital and Uralkali do not comment on the situation. Uralchem ​​says that "the loan is secured not only by the purchased shares, but also by other assets of the company, and this is enough to secure this loan." “In such a situation, a subsequent pledge is possible, when the property pledged in one bank is re-mortgaged in another,” says Andrey Zelenin, a partner at Lidings law firm, “or a third party acts as a pledger. Take the same Mechel: it owes everyone, but at the same time it continues to work.”

The question arises: did it make sense to borrow $4.5 billion in order to find yourself today in a situation close to default on a loan with a threefold depreciated block of shares? “In the long term, Uralkali is interesting,” Ilya Balakirev is convinced. - It is the most efficient potash producer in the world. But it should be borne in mind that the deal was clearly political in nature. It was important to remove Kerimov from the shareholders in order to make peace with President Lukashenko. This was done, although cooperation with the BPC was never restored.” Since the deal is political and Mazepin paid a very high price for his shares, VTB Capital will not strictly adhere to its obligations under the loan agreement, experts say.

The large debt of Uralchem ​​is not the only problem of the new owner of Uralkali.

Accident and buy back

It's not just the billions spent on Uralkali that give Dmitry Mazepin a headache. In November 2014, the Solikamsk-2 mine was flooded, which in 2014 was flooded. provided the company with 18% of potassium production. Shares of Uralkali fell 1.3 times on this news. To make up for the loss, Uralkali said it was ready to spend $4.5 billion by 2020 to build two new mines and upgrade old ones. After that, Uralkali announced a third buy back, or share buyback program, to make the company private and make management decisions faster. Speaking about the consequences of the accident in Solikamsk, Pavel Martynyuk, a senior analyst at the National Rating Agency, notes that they were not as large-scale for the company as expected - the accident was localized, and production volumes in 2015 decreased slightly, "which may indicate a high efficiency of the company's management."

Grigory Burlutsky, portfolio manager at Custom Capital Management LLC, notes that, despite the impact of external negative factors and accidents, in 2014 the company continued to implement the main strategy to increase production and sales of potash, the foundations of which were laid back in mid-2013, under the old management. Implementation of this strategy allowed Uralkali to increase potash sales in 2014 by 24% compared to 2013, bringing the level of capacity utilization to a record. Unfortunately, the accident at the mine had a negative impact on the company's performance already in 2015 - sales decreased by 7.5% in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year.

On October 16 of the current year, 21.98% of the shares were purchased through buy back, including 12.5% ​​from the Chinese investment fund Chengdong Investment Corporation for $2.1 billion. %, almost the same as that of Mazepin. Mazepin's Uralchem ​​did not sell paper either in April or in October. A quasi-treasury stake of 33.54% of the shares is voted by the company's top managers - and they are all Mazepin's people, including Dmitry Osipov, CEO of PJSC Uralkali. This means that if the shares of Prokhorov and Mazepin are equal, PJSC Mazepin controls. Onexim does not comment on the results of the buy back and the reason for investing in Uralkali.

Until recently, experts believed that Mazepin wants to take full control of Uralkali, and Prokhorov is looking for buyers. At the same time, Mazepin himself is not yet able to buy Prokhorov's shares. “Mazepin cannot even redeem Prokhorov's 20% shareholding, which has fallen in value three times,” says Oleg Petropavlovsky, an analyst at the BCS group, “this requires 75 billion rubles. Uralchem ​​already has huge debts. In addition, servicing the VTB Capital loan creates problems for the borrower, as the value of the collateral has dropped significantly.”

Minority shareholders of Uralkali, dissatisfied with the buy back, accused Mazepin of collapsing the company's share market in order to gain control over it. “The expected price of shares during the buyback was higher than the real one,” states Ilya Balakirev. - shares were redeemed at $3.2 (210 rubles). Quotes fell after corporate reports, lower prices for mineral fertilizers, withdrawal from western sites, an unclear situation with emergency assets.

Dmitry Osipov said that restoration work at the emergency Solikamskaya-2 mine cannot guarantee against flooding the adjacent Solikamskaya-1 mine, the main mining asset of the company. CFO of Uralkali Anton Vischanenko insisted on the need to increase capital expenditures by almost three times - from 14 billion rubles. in 2014 up to 33.6 billion rubles. in 2015 After the collapse of the shares of Uralkali in August 2013, when the cartel with Belaruskali was destroyed, its shares no longer recovered to their previous levels (240-250 rubles on the MICEX). So, in early November, they cost only 154-156 rubles on the MICEX. Some analysts believe that the previous quotes will no longer exist. And there is also such a problem as Berezniki - a city standing on the mines of Uralkali. Salt solutions wash out mines and destroy houses. The new owners of the company, Dmitry Mazepin and Mikhail Prokhorov, allocated money for the construction of housing, transferring in 2013-2014. 3.2 billion rubles to the regional budget. In 2015 no money was transferred. Roman Korotaev, chairman of the NGO Civil Supervision, says that housing is being built, but people want to receive an additional payment for old housing when they move. As for the new owners, according to Korotaev, "Mazepin is a much less odious figure than, for example, the previous owner of Uralkali, Dmitry Rybolovlev." In Berezniki, people discussed for a long time the luxurious apartments in New York and the island in Greece, which Rybolovlev bought his daughter by selling shares in Uralkali after the accident at the mine located in this city.

Meanwhile, "Uralkali" until 2020. intends to cut 20% of the staff. Prices are falling, production will be reduced by 300,000 tons this year to stop further price declines. The new owners are targeting Canada's Potash Corp., which has 3,000 employees, while Uralkali has more than 10,000 employees.

What is Uralkali

This is about 20% of the global potash fertilizer market, deliveries to 60 countries, the world's lowest production cost, its own fleet of mineral wagons, the Baltic Bulk Terminal, 25% of the port in the Brazilian city of Antonina. Only 10% of products are sold on the domestic market, the rest is exported. UBS analysts have calculated that its own rolling stock and maritime infrastructure allow Uralkali to provide the world's lowest cost for the delivery of potash - $ 107 / t - and in terms of trading opportunities only Canpotex can be compared with it.

The shares of Uralkali are distributed as follows: Onexim owns 20%, Uralchem ​​owns 19.99%, 12.61% is pledged by VTB Capital, 33.54% falls on quasi-treasury securities (quasi-treasury shares are formed as a result of the transfer of the issuer's own shares to the balance sheet of its subsidiaries), in free float - 13.54%. RAS net profit of Uralkali increased by 46% over the nine months, to RUB 38.6 billion.

Corporate wars

Dmitry Mazepin has repeatedly participated in corporate wars. When in June 2008 he bought a 72% stake in OAO Voskresensk Mineral Fertilizers (VMU), a producer of phosphate fertilizers, from Phosagro, prices fell by half. In March 2009, Mazepin's Cypriot company ACF-Agrochem Finance Limited began challenging this deal in Moscow arbitration. The plaintiff's main argument is that VMU shares were purchased at a price higher than the market price (the transaction amount is $358.6 million), the company does not pay dividends, which causes damage to shareholders. The claims were rejected. In addition, Mazepinskiy Uralchem ​​owed 3 billion rubles. for 24% of the shares of VMU, presented under the offer by the minority shareholder of this company Shades of Cyprus (connected with Phosagro). Mazepin did not pay the offer for two years. Then VMU and PhosAgro argued about the price of the main raw material for the production of phosphate fertilizers - apatite concentrate. Phosagro is the monopoly supplier of apatite in Russia. In 2014, Phosagro stopped supplying raw materials, as a result, VMU's revenue fell by almost 80%, and the loss amounted to 376 million rubles, the plant did not work for three months. The Ministry of Industry and Trade intervened in the dispute, and only in September of this year the parties agreed to a settlement, and the supply of apatite to VMF was resumed.

But Mazepin's very first promotional war was with Gazprom. In November 2004, Gazprom intended to buy a state-owned 38.8% stake in the Kirovo-Chepetsk Chemical Combine (KCHKK), but lost at the auction. Soon, about 60% of KCHK turned out to be in the hands of Dmitry Mazepin, LLC Constructive Bureau. In 2005, Gazprom cut off gas supplies to KCKK for three months in order to gain control over the chemical plant, but Mazepin withstood the onslaught of the gas monopoly. He raised Kirovo-Chepetsk to rallies, received the support of the then governor of the Kirov region Nikolai Shaklein, personally met with local journalists to tell how Gazprom was strangling the city-forming enterprise, the largest taxpayer in the region. Today, the mineral fertilizer plant of the Kirovo-Chepetsk Chemical Plant (JSC ZMU KChKhK) is part of Uralchem, and the plant for the production of fluoroplastics of KChKhK is part of another holding, Halopolimer, which is also controlled by Dmitry Mazepin.

How does Mazepin manage to win corporate wars against such players as Gazprom and PhosAgro? Who supports him? Mazepin worked at the Russian Federal Property Fund (RFBR); later, the head of this state structure, Vladimir Malin, helped the entrepreneur buy a state-owned stake in KCHK, from which he began to build his agrochemical holding. In addition, at that time Mazepin assured everyone that he was acting at KCKK in the interests of Gazprom, which had plans to enlarge the chemical business. Today, the KCHK is more fertilizers than other Uralhim enterprises, as follows from his report for 2014. And in 2008, Mazepin surprised the ex-governor of the Kirov region Vladimir Sergeyenkov with high dividends accrued to himself at KCHK: “In the2008, the owner of Mazepin only received 5 million rubles, and the wages for 14,000 workers amounted to 1.8 ml. RD rub. So, on average in Russia, the owners took about 25% of net profit as dividends. Mazepin takes 75%.

Born on April 18, 1968 in Minsk, in 1985 he graduated from the Minsk Suvorov Military School. Later he studied to be a military translator. In 1986-1988 he served in Afghanistan as an interpreter. After graduating from the Faculty of Economics of MGIMO in 1992, he worked in the financial sector of Russia and Belarus, held senior positions in large Russian companies and government agencies.

• 1992-1993 - Infistrakh insurance company, CEO.
• 1993-1995 - CB "Belarusbank", deputy director of the branch.
• 1995 - JSCB Falcon, First Deputy Chairman of the Board, Acting Chairman of the Board.
• 1996-1997 - VAO Raznoimport, Deputy General Director.
• 1997 - Vice President of the Tyumen Oil Company
• 1997-1998 - executive director of the oil-producing enterprise Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, which is part of TNK.
• 1998-1999 - Deputy Chairman of the Board of Flora-Moscow Bank.
• 1999-2001 - Advisor to the Chairman, Deputy Chairman of the RFBR.
• 2001 - General Director of the coal company Kuzbassugol.
• 2002 - First Deputy Chairman of RFBR.
• 2002-2003 - President of AK Sibur.
• since 2007 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Uralchem.

He was appointed head of Sibur a few months after the arrest of the previous head of the company, Yakov Goldovsky. The main task set before Mazepin by the leadership of Gazprom was the return of Sibur to the operational control of the parent company. After spending a little more than six months as head of the company, in February 2003 he was dismissed.

After leaving Sibur, Dmitry Mazepin decided to go into business in the chemical industry. In 2004, the Constructive Bureau company, controlled by D. A. Mazepin, acquired a controlling stake in OAO Kirovo-Chepetsk Chemical Plant at an open auction of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. In 2005, he headed the board of directors of the plant. Later, Constructive Bureau acquired stakes in Perm JSC Halogen and Minudobreniya, Berezniki JSC Azot, Volgograd Khimprom (transferred to Renova in 2006). In 2007, on the basis of the assets of the Constructive Bureau holding, the Open Joint Stock Company United Chemical Company Uralchem ​​was created. In June 2008, a 75.01% stake in OAO Voskresensk Mineral Fertilizers was acquired.

State

Forbes magazine included D. A. Mazepin in the list of 100 richest businessmen in Russia in 2010, estimating his fortune at $ 950 million.

In 2016-2017, Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin managed to increase his fortune almost 6 times - up to 74 billion rubles ($1.3 billion, according to Forbes). But, apparently, we will soon see the collapse of his chemical empire.

Mazepin's key enterprises seem to be in danger of bankruptcy - the billionaire's attempt to improve things at the expense of Togliattiazot (ToAZ) failed. The main asset of Dmitry Mazepin is the Uralchem ​​group of companies, which is considered one of the largest producers of mineral fertilizers in Russia, the CIS and Eastern Europe. Problems in Uralchem ​​began to mature more than four years ago, but then it looked like a great success.

In 2013, the company received a $4.5 billion loan from VTB Capital. Mazepin needed the money to buy a stake in Uralkali from Suleiman Kerimov, the bank provided him with funds secured by the acquired shares of the enterprise. Here it is impossible not to recall that the change in the owner of Uralkali also had a political background. The holding formed a powerful cartel together with Belaruskali, however, contradictions arose between its owners and the leadership of Belarus. The conflict was resolved at the interstate level. It was assumed that the change of owners of Uralkali would restore relations. Therefore, there is every reason to believe that Mazepin paid Kerimov an obviously inflated price and thereby compensated him for political costs.

At the time of the transaction, Uralchem ​​already had debts of $676 million. In 2014, due to the collapse of the ruble exchange rate, the company found itself in the situation of "currency mortgages". It seems that the losses from the sharp change in exchange rate differences amounted to about 1.7 billion rubles, while the cost of the stake in Uralkali bought by Mazepin fell almost 3 times - to 1.2 billion dollars. By the end of the year, the loss of Uralkali amounted to more than 33 billion rubles, the reasons, apparently, were the decrease in global demand for fertilizers due to the "sanctions war", as well as the decline in the quality of Uralkali's products due to man-made reasons. The failed attempt to restore the alliance with Belaruskali also played a role.

According to some reports, Mazepin's structures violated the terms of the loan agreement with VTB Capital as early as 2014. Then, taking into account the political situation, the bank refused to have a hard impact on the debtor, but this position is unlikely to be maintained forever.

Moreover, at some enterprises of Dmitry Mazepin, creditors may find signs of the withdrawal of assets.

Credit for "black hole"

Dmitry Mazepin's business strategy is demonstrated in practice by the events around the Voskresensk Mineral Fertilizers (VMF) plant. The company was bought by an oligarch in 2008, despite the fact that a year earlier the regulatory authorities ordered the plant to be closed due to the extreme wear and tear of production lines. In 2009, on the instructions of Rostekhnadzor, VMU stopped the operation of ammonia systems, closed one of the two sulfuric acid systems, which led to massive staff reductions. According to the results of 2009, the plant received a loss of 1.5 billion rubles. One would assume that the billionaire bought the troubled plant in order to bring it back to life. VMU is the city-forming enterprise of Voskresensk, Dmitry Mazepin could carry out a deep modernization of the plant and bring it to profit, thereby supporting life in the monotown near Moscow. However, there is evidence that almost immediately after the purchase of the plant, the transfer of “fit” VMU assets to Uralchem ​​could begin. Access railway tracks, treatment facilities, land plots and buildings of individual workshops were probably carried out for a reason through the Cypriot company Assethill Holdings Ltd, which at that time was affiliated with the Kirovo-Chepetsk Chemical Plant - another structure of Mazepin. By the way, Yury Sleptsov, the former mayor of Voskresensk, who was later convicted of bribery by the Moscow Regional Court, is considered the main "assistant" of the chemical magnate in the privatization of the VMU. In fairness, it should be noted that in 2016 the owner of VMU tried to partially re-profile the plant and start producing modern water-soluble fertilizers. But, despite this, today the plant's load is no more than 50% of the nominal capacity, and taking into account the current economic realities and the fall in demand for fertilizers, the plant's prospects are completely uncertain.

On this topic

According to currently available information, on September 7, a group of journalists, representatives from the Liberal Democratic Party and members of the electoral committee went to the city of Kyzyl to observe the elections to the People's Khural of the Republic of Tuva.

Flight of Uralkali

Dmitry Mazepin purchased the worn-out Voskresensky plant not at his own expense, but for this he took out a loan from Sberbank for 3 billion rubles. The money was received by Dmitry Mazepin, despite current obligations to this bank in the amount of 700 million rubles. Is such “assistance” possible without the personal participation of the head of Sberbank German Gref? By the way, it is this institution that is the largest creditor of Uralkali, around which several interesting events have taken place in recent years, which have remained almost unnoticed by the press. In 2015, the company delisted from the London Stock Exchange, in December 2017, a message appeared about the decision of the Board of Directors of Uralkali to leave the Moscow Stock Exchange as well. Apparently, now Uralkali (PJSC Uralkali) is preparing for the transition to the status of a private company and further possible reorganization, liquidation or sale. This can be justified by the significant depreciation of production assets and regular accidents, as well as large debts of the holding. The company's debt to Sberbank is $2.46 billion, and the total debt is about $5 billion.

Due to the difficult situation in the potash market, following the results of 2016, Uralkali observed a drop in production volumes (by 5%) and sales (by 2%), a decrease in revenue by 27% compared to 2015. Problems at the company's mining sites led to a 6% increase in production costs. Because of all this, by 2020 the company has planned a reduction in staff by 20%.

It is quite possible that in this scenario, Mazepin will decide on the bankruptcy of Uralkali PJSC. No one will be surprised if by that time the funds and assets of the enterprise will leave the company's balance sheets. This may be confirmed by the fact that in 2017 the Federal Tax Service assessed Uralkali additional taxes for 980 million rubles, since it believed that the company underestimated the income tax base through a deal with related parties. It was about the income that Uralkali received as a result of operations with the purchase and sale of shares of the enterprise between mutually affiliated PJSC Uralkali, the Cypriot Enterpro Services and JSC Uralkali-Technology.

Businessman or raider?

Against the background of problems with the main assets, Dmitry Mazepin continues to participate in a shareholder conflict with the owners of Togliattiazot. The confrontation began 10 years ago, in 2012 it entered an active phase. ToAZ shareholders became defendants in a criminal case of fraud: according to investigators, in 2008-2011, Togliattiazot sold its products (ammonia and urea) abroad at artificially low prices. The court ruled on the arrest in absentia of the defendants, now, according to some reports, they are in the United States.

By the way, there is one curious detail: at the end of 2015, the minority shareholder of ToAZ Evgeny Sedykin, who is associated with Dmitry Mazepin, held the so-called repeated annual meeting of shareholders, as a result of which Sedykin himself was elected chairman of the board of directors of ToAZ OJSC for an indefinite period. Subsequently, Togliattiazot successfully challenged all the procedures in the courts, in July last year, Sedykin was sentenced to four years probation for an attempted raider seizure of ToAZ.

And one more interesting detail: in January 2018, the press reported the detention in Russia of Sergei Sokolov, who was the head of Boris Berezovsky's security service. Sokolov is suspected of illicit trafficking in firearms, and Oleg Antoshin, the ex-head of the security service of ToAZ, became another defendant in the criminal case. Those arrested are also being checked for involvement in the staging of terrorist attacks. Probably, the gentlemen in 2016 could be related to the laying of weapons and illegal political literature in the premises of Togliattiazot. The customers and sponsors of this operation, which was supposed to publicly discredit the main owners of ToAZ, have not yet been established, but someone can link the actions of Sokolov and Antoshin with the activity of persons from Dmitry Mazepin's entourage against ToAZ.

At least the lawyers of Uralchem ​​are serving the interests of the arrested Sokolov and Antoshin in court. And they certainly do this not out of mercy, but perhaps out of fear that the accused will begin active cooperation with the investigation and very unpleasant details of their work will come out. Among other things, in the story of the attacks on Togliatti-Azot, a terrifying question arises: how could it be that Dmitry Mazepin, a respected member of the Forbes list and the owner of Uralchem, is so often mentioned in the context of the openly criminal elements of Sedykin, Sokolov and Antoshin? In the story of a new attempt to capture Togliattiazot, as many media write, a former high-ranking employee of the Lubyanka is also involved, who, according to available information, is lobbying for the release of Sergei Sokolov. It is obvious that a real raider hurricane began around Togliattiazot, in which more than one "soldier of fortune" is involved.

But will all this help solve the financial problems of Uralchem? The earth burns under his feet: dangerous industrial accidents; debts, the amounts of which are already poorly correlated with the real assets and activities of enterprises; numerous scandals that do not subside around him. So isn't it time to see that the methods he's used to are backfiring? Perhaps his time has already passed?

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In 2007, a new enterprise appeared on the business map of the country - JSC UCC URALCHEM. Created as a result of the acquisition of controlling stakes in the Open Joint Stock Company Kirovo-Chepetsk Chemical Plant named after B.P. Konstantinov” (Kirovo-Chepetsk, Kirov region) and OJSC “Azot” (Berezniki, Perm region), today it is one of the largest companies in the market of mineral fertilizers in the Russian Federation, the CIS and Eastern Europe. The board of directors of the company from the moment of foundation to the present day is headed by Dmitry Mazepin, a graduate of the MGIMO Faculty of Economics, a bright entrepreneur, who previously successfully managed many large Russian companies in the oil and gas and industrial sectors. Under the leadership of Dmitry Mazepin, JSC UCC URALCHEM not only shows stable economic growth, but also actively invests in the implementation of many charitable projects.

The last decade in the history of URALCHEM holding can rightly be called the time of sustainable development. Having survived the crisis of 2009, the company is working steadily, showing a growing financial result; maintains constructive relationships with creditor banks, fulfilling all its credit obligations on time and in full. In 2017, URALCHEM's net profit amounted to 16.2 billion rubles, while EBITDA exceeded 25.5 billion.

New markets - new perspectives

One of the key factors in the development of any industry is the presence of a stable demand for products. In the case of URALCHEM holding, one of the leaders in the European market of mineral fertilizers, the agro-industrial complex is the source of demand.

Currently, the company is actively entering new foreign markets and establishing cooperation with countries where agriculture remains the main driver of the economy to this day. In particular, we are talking about the creation of a Russian hub for direct supplies of mineral fertilizers in the countries of Southeast Africa.

In February, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC UCC URALCHEM, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC Uralkali Dmiry Mazepin personally met with President of the Republic of Zambia Edgar Lungu and President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa and discussed the prospects for joint work.

Cooperation between Zambia and Zimbabwe with Russian companies will significantly reduce fertilizer prices for African farmers, who are currently forced to buy fertilizers from intermediaries at an average of $450-500 per ton. For comparison, Russia can offer mineral fertilizers on the world market, including in African ports, at a price of $250-300 per ton.

According to the President of Zambia, Edgar Lungu, “investment in agriculture is a powerful stimulus for the economic development of our country. Zambia is in the middle of South East Africa and if our experience is positive it will set a good example for the rest of the region.”

President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa, for whom the meeting with Dmitry Mazepin was the first contact with Russian business after his election, noted:

- The country is now opening up for business, including Russian. For the last 16-17 years we have been isolated due to Western sanctions, but now the economy is entering a period of recovery. We will pay special attention to the development of the mining sector, agriculture and industry. Capital used to flee Zimbabwe, but now we need competition.

According to him, restrictions on doing business in Zimbabwe are being lifted for foreign investors, and administrative and economic barriers are being eased. The head of the republic stressed that Zimbabwe guarantees the safety of foreign investment and security for investors.

Here is how Dmitry Mazepin commented on the results of meetings with the heads of two African countries:

- Southwest and southeast Africa have historically had traders who buy fertilizers from ports and ship them to landlocked countries, providing logistics and chemical storage services. We believe that URALCHEM and Uralkali can take on these responsibilities so that farmers can purchase fertilizers at significantly better prices. At a meeting with the President of Zimbabwe, we received an invitation to take part in both the supply of fertilizers and mining projects in this country. Of course, it would be interesting for us. When we receive guarantees of stable business development at such a high level, it is very important for us.

The volume of deliveries of URALCHEM and Uralkali products to Southeast Africa is currently about 100 thousand tons per year, and in the short term, according to Dmitry Mazepin, it can reach 500-600 thousand tons annually.

The creation of the Russia-Zimbabwe Business Council, which will be headed by Dmitry Mazepin from the Russian side, was also discussed with the President of Zimbabwe and other members of the government of the republic.

Social responsibility as a priority

URALCHEM Holding has been and remains a company actively investing in social and charitable projects. And the determining factor here is the personal involvement of Dmitry Mazepin in matters of public welfare.

For example, in 2012, he donated $0.7 million of his personal funds to buy cars for families with many children in the Kirov region. And in 2013, the Russian Forbes included the businessman in the TOP-7 rating of the leading Russian billionaire philanthropists - after in just a year the financing of social and charitable projects of the chemical giant URALCHEM more than doubled - from more than 90 million rubles in 2011 to 232.3 million rubles in 2012. In 2014, the company gave 234.5 million rubles to charity in Russia and abroad.

Today, URALCHEM continues to comply with all obligations to the state and society. In 2017, over 3.6 billion rubles in taxes were paid to the Russian budget, over 550 million rubles were allocated to charitable projects under six major programs: URALCHEM for Children, URALCHEM for Veterans, URALCHEM for the Regions, URALCHEM for Education and Science, URALCHEM for Cultural Traditions and URALCHEM for Sports.

Among the largest implemented projects is support for the federal program "KaDetstvo" to create and develop a network of cadet corps in Russia, train future personnel for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation and law enforcement agencies, and educate the younger generation in the spirit of patriotism. In addition, the company provides financial support to the Russian Association of Heroes, which unites Heroes of the Soviet Union, Heroes of the Russian Federation and full holders of the Order of Glory, living in 55 constituent entities of the Russian Federation, as well as the Third Age charity fund for helping older people, veterans of the Alpha anti-terror unit, veterans of the chemical industry.

In 2017, the implementation of the large-scale social project “URALCHEM – roads to the city” continued in Kirovo-Chepetsk: the company allocated 25 million rubles for the repair of the city’s largest transport arteries.

In the field of culture, URALCHEM, together with the Latvian Art Forte Foundation, implemented a number of projects in 2017 aimed at popularizing Russian art: the company financed the tour of the Moscow Theater “On Malaya Bronnaya” on the stage of the Dailes Theater in Riga, a concert by the choir named after. M. E. Pyatnitsky in honor of the Day of Russia in Jurmala, with the support of URALCHEM, Konstantin Khabensky and Yuri Bashmet presented the play "Don't Leave Your Planet" based on the story "The Little Prince" by A. de Saint-Exupery.

As part of the charitable program URALCHEM to Sport, the company has focused special attention on the development of swimming in the Perm Territory. In 2017, Perm swimmers won 72 medals at Russian and international competitions.

Dmitry Mazepin himself is a graduate of the Suvorov military school and the school of the Olympic reserve, so he is familiar with the key problems and tasks in the field of supporting youth and sports firsthand. It was this experience, lived in his youth, that brought up the will in the future billionaire, taught him to make responsible decisions and not be afraid to take risks. However, today Dmitry Mazepin is sure that the risk in doing business is minimal.

In the program “On a Working Noon”, aired on the Russia 24 TV channel, answering a correspondent’s question about the experience of making risky decisions, the businessman explained: “There is no risk in doing business. This is just hard work. You need to roll up your sleeves and just get to work.” Perhaps it is in such a modest approach that lies the secret of the success of Dmitry Mazepin, a billionaire and philanthropist.

Dmitry A. Mazepin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC UCC URALCHEM was born in 1968. Graduated from the Minsk Suvorov School, Moscow State Institute of International Relations (Department of Economics). Since the mid-1990s, he has held senior management positions in government agencies and large companies: OAO Tyumen Oil Company, OAO Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, OAO Coal Company Kuzbassugol, and the Russian Federal Property Fund. From 2002 to 2003 - President of OAO AK Sibur. Since 2007 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of URALCHEM.

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Dmitry Mazepin: "Business is painstaking work!"