A major Russian developer, the Samolot group of companies, applied to the government for state support. The company’s shareholders are ready to provide the state with blocking and more shares with participation in management and the right to repurchase at a new price. This is stated in a letter from Samolot’s CEO, Anna Akinyshina, addressed to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, which was reviewed by RBC.
In the letter, the company requests a preferential loan or a stabilization instrument in the amount of 50 billion rubles for a period of up to three years to avoid disruption of construction obligations. In addition to transferring a package of shares, the shareholders declared their readiness to provide additional external financing of up to 10 billion rubles.
The Samolot Group was associated with the governor of the Moscow region, Andrey Vorobyov. His brother, Maxim Vorobyov, previously acted as a co-investor and co-owner of some of the developer’s projects. The company was founded in 2014, the year Vorobyov came to the post of governor. Since then, the developer has become one of the largest builders in the region, which could have been facilitated by administrative resources. According to SPARK, the company is the largest developer in Russia in terms of current construction: it is building about 4.7 million square meters of housing and has a land bank of more than 41 million square meters.
Samolot’s financial situation worsened amid a sharp rise in the Central Bank’s key rate due to the start of the war in Ukraine and the winding down of preferential mortgage programs. At the end of last year, the company’s sales fell by 17%, and in the fourth quarter, the drop reached 45%. Net profit for 2024 halved to 8.2 billion rubles (The Moscow Times).
