The head of Arikapital Management Company Tretyakov: Rusnano's default will hit Gazprom, STLC and Aeroflot
Rusnano “will allow the restructuring of debts, not to mention the default, all Russian companies with state participation will suffer, as shareholders will sharply reduce the assessment of the reliability of their securities. This was stated by Alexey Tretyakov, General Director of the managing company (MC) Arikapital, which holds part of Rusnano's bonds, Interfax reports.
Among those for whom the situation could be a serious blow, the expert named such companies as Gazprom, VEB, GTLK, Aeroflot. All of them are perceived by the market not as full-fledged commercial structures, and the crisis of a 100 percent state-owned company will automatically lead to a revision of their ratings.
Currently, Tretyakov stressed, the ratings of Russian quasi-sovereign companies depend on state support. Market participants believe that the authorities will not allow problems in their structures, but the Rusnano situation will change this attitude.
At the same time, the head of Arikapital himself considers a default not very likely, since officials must be aware of the level of threat. In his opinion, the problems will be resolved by an infusion from the state or a moderate restructuring. However, the expert called the very news about the preparation of the restructuring unprecedented.
The problems in Rusnano became known on November 19. The company at a meeting with creditors announced the accumulated disproportionate debt and the need for adjustments to the financial model. The meeting participants discussed options to avoid the most negative scenarios.
Against this background, the Moscow Exchange, at the request of the Central Bank, stopped trading in all Rusnano bond issues worth over 71 billion rubles. Trading is expected to resume on November 22. To do this, the site asked the company to clarify plans for servicing the debt, after which the issue of the bond listing status will be resolved.
Earlier in November, Rusnano reported that the company's revenue for nine months of 2021 reached 22.2 billion rubles – almost six times more than in the same period in 2020. Net profit amounted to 2.9 billion rubles, and management costs were reduced by one billion rubles.