The controversy involving change of ownership at the Bank of Moscow has dragged out for several months now. The new shareholders have accused the former management of issuing loans to empty shells. Our correspondent has followed the trail of a Bank of Moscow loan.
In July of this year, the workforce of the Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill, one of Russia’s largest, has marked the 72th anniversary of the mill. The Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill was built on the shores of the lake Vygozero, at the heart of the Republic of Karelia, in 1939. Over time, a town with the beautiful name Segezha sprang up around the mill. In those days, the mill used Europe’s most powerful machines to make kraft paper.
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Уже несколько месяцев тянется скандал, связанный со сменой собственников в Банке Москвы. Новые акционеры обвиняют прежнее руководство в выдаче кредитов подставным компаниям, не ведущим хозяйственной деятельности. По следам одного из кредитов, выданных Банком Москвы, отправился наш корреспондент.
В июле этого года коллектив одного из крупнейших в России Сегежского целлюлозно-бумажного комбината отметил 72-ю годовщину предприятия.
Сегежский ЦБК был построен в 1939 году на берегу Выгозера, в центре Республики Карелия. Со временем вокруг комбината вырос целый город с красивым названием Сегежа. В те годы комбинат производил крафт-бумагу на самом мощном в Европе оборудовании.
В начале 2000-х было принято решение о техническом перевооружении Сегежского ЦБК. Итогом работы проектировщиков из компании Jaakko Poyry стал экономически и технически обоснованный проект практически полной реконструкции предприятия. Но их идеи оказалось возможным воплотить в жизнь после того, как ОАО «Сегежский ЦБК» стал частью формирующегося холдинга «Инвестлеспром» в 2006 году. Как отмечало руководство СЦБК, только вхождение в крупнейший холдинг позволило вернуться к давно заявленной, но отложенной стратегической цели – удвоить объем производства.
In the early 2000s, a decision was made to retrofit and upgrade the mill. Designers from Jaakko Poyry came up with an economically and technically sound project for virtually complete reconstruction of the mill. However, their ideas remained on paper until OJSC Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill became part of an emerging Investlesprom holding company in 2006. The Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill management has said that only after it joined the large holding the mill was able to revisit its long-time published – but postponed – goal of doubling output.
In 2008, the Investlesprom management on the whole approved a strategic development plan for OJSC Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill that provided for increasing pulp capacity to 900,000 tons a year and for launching production of bleached sulphate pulp (both from soft wood and hard wood). General Director of CJSC Investlesprom Dmitry Maslov signed instructions to set up a working group for the project dubbed Polar Bear. In August 2009, an order of the RF Minister for Trade and Industry added Polar Bear to a list of high-priority investment projects in the timber industry.
The investment project involving reconstruction and development of the Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill (Polar Bear) essentially provides for construction of a new pulp plant. It provides for a new production line for hard- and softwood market pulp rated at 700,000 tons a year. The project will also enable the mill to increase its output of bag paper to 300,000 tons a year and to start making white bag paper. The project design includes virtually waste-free utilization of raw wood, such as chips and shavings and hard- and soft wood balances. Manufacture of bleached pulp at the modernized mill may set it up for launching new products (such as high-quality board).
What is particularly impressive about the project is that it more than triples the capacity of the Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill, already a long time international leader in bag paper production, bringing it to 1 million tons a year!
Polar Bear is a project for a state-of-the-art pulp-and-paper mill where labor productivity will grow 7.5 times and wages will increase 3.5 times. Highly profitable production will help meet the region’s social needs – through increased payments to Karelia’s budget. Important aspects of the project include comprehensive processing of all the raw wood inputs and reduction of the environmental impact. The project will help Russia’s North-West move away from being a pure commodities producer as the Polar Bear project provides for a five-fold increase in value added to the locally harvested timber.
Such large-scale plans require serious investments of roughly 1 billion Euros. Until recently, the Bank of Moscow has been the Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill’s principal partner in this regard. However, recently rumors began to circulate that, following management replacement and arrival of new owners, all non-core assets of the Bank of Moscow will be sold. Does that mean that the modernization of the Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill, a project that is important for Karelia and for the rest of Russia, will be cancelled or delayed indefinitely? Moreover, certain auditors have gone as far as claim that the Bank of Moscow investments in non-core assets have carried significant risks, whereas the loans made, including for development of timber-processing enterprises, are apparently problem loans.
However, the Polar Bear project refutes such idle speculation. This opinion has been expressed by the management of the Investlesprom holding and is shared by others.
Last January, in a meeting with Karelian Governor Andrei Nelidov, Chairman of the RF Government Vladimir Putin commended the development trends in this wooded part of the country, noting increased investments and a budget surplus. In particular, the Prime Minister said, “I have looked at last year’s data for the republic: everything is recovering gradually, but, so far, the numbers are very modest. The only thing from among positive news that has caught my eye is increased investments in the fixed assets. Of course it has to do with a number of major projects under way in Karelia. This is the bleached pulp plant at the Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill.
It is hard to argue against this high assessment of the Bank of Moscow’s investments into modernizing Karelia’s timber industry. One would hope that the Segezh Pulp-and-Paper Mill will mark its next anniversary as a technologically upgraded facility whose new performance will make it both a national and global leader. One would also hope that the Polar Bear project will not remain on paper.
Opinion poll
The Editors of the Segezh Paper-Maker have polled some of the mill’s employees and townsfolk, asking them: “What is your vision of the mill ten years from now?” Below is what the town residents had to say about the future of the company.
Ольга, 26: I am a born optimist. I think that a new manufacturing facility will be built that will feature new, more modern equipment. It will turn out high quality products for a long, long time. I want the city to live in sync with the mill so they will jointly handle matters of vital importance to the city.
Lidia Ivanovna: In ten years, the mill will remain the backbone of the city’s economy and will prosper. Also, the city will feel that it can truly rely on the mill. People will go to work with a feeling of joy. The young people will believe in a beautiful future. Young professionals will be proud to employ their expertise at the mill. Mill employees will be proud of their new pulp-making enterprise and the Polar Bear will be famous domestically and internationally. I am confident that this is how it will be.
Marina, 40: Ten years is too long a time. In ten years, there will have been presidential and parliamentary elections. Everyone hopes for stability, both in terms of employment and on a personal level. Of course, our mill will be working. Everybody can see that a new railway line is being laid down at the mill, a fuel oil shop is going up, and this, of course, is being done with a distant future in mind. The temporary ramp over the new branch railway line makes it difficult for heavy vehicles to cross over and mill employees stumble over it in their heels, but no one has been irked by these short-term inconveniences because everyone knows that a new production facility is being built and that means our new future.
How can one cheat these ordinary people out of their hopes and expectations?
Sergei Andreev.