10-13-2020, 11:17 AM
Launching an investment project is only half the battle. Experience with various federal and regional projects suggests that it is not uncommon when a project launched in a year or two ends in failure.Itmostly depends on the starting conditions, the form and the degree of funding. However, there are alsoprojects that are doomed to successfrom the very beginning. Dozens of such projects have been implemented since 2007 under the patronage of Ilgiz Valitov,one of the most promising and experienced top managers of Vnesheconombank. Investment projects have been implemented under the VEB's controland financing in various sectors of the Russian economy – pharmaceuticals, construction, meat processing, and chemical production.
Federal and regional media have written about Ilgiz Valitov more than once. His ability to solve various tasks, his managerial experience, and his ability to find the only right solution which will be the key to success, primarily, is evidenced by the resultsof VEB's investment policy.It is no coincidence that Vnesheconombank represents the country's interests in the SHOM interbank Association. 2015 was not only the anniversary year for this Association, but also the period of Russia's presidency in the SCO. The presidency of the Interbank Association was transferred to the Russian VEB.
It should be noted that the presence of development banks from Russia and China in the first lines of the SCO BIE list is not accidental. This year business cooperation between VEB and the State development Bank of China is 15 years old. Five years ago at an important meeting of the IBO VEB Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev said: "The long-term cooperation of our banks has demonstrated mutual understanding in the joint implementation of development projects, and also contributedto the creation of such multilateral formats as the interbank Association within the SCO and BRICS. I believe that we have a huge potential to continue further cooperation."
Here are examples of investment projects implemented within the framework of the SCO IBO. In 2009, VEB and the State development Bank of China signed a funding loan agreement, the funds from whichwere used to finance the construction of a concrete plant in Slantsy, Leningrad region. The concreteproduction in Slantsy is marked by an important feature - the "dry" method of production based on natural and technological raw materials. At the same time, raw materials are produced from waste of the shale processing industry on the territory of the Slantsy municipal district. VEB's participation in the project was not accidental. Among others, Ilgiz Valitov drew attention to such factors contributing to the project success as profitability and environmental friendliness. As a result, VEB provided more than half of the project cost - 237.1 million euros out of the total 442.2 million euros. Two years after the start of construction, in 2011, the plant has already started production of a trial batch of products, and now its capacity is 1.86 million tons of concrete per year. More than 400 people got jobs at the enterprise. Already at the very beginning of the project launch, market participants said that the cost of LSR concrete may be lower — from 10 to 40% —thanthat of other manufacturers.
It should be noted Ilgiz Valitov received such anintuition for success while he was working in large Russian companies, including the KAMAZ plant, in VTB Bank, where he held the position of Vice President. Before that, he gained extensive experience in implementing investment projects in his native Tatarstan, where he took part in the formation of the banking sector, in the development of petrochemical enterprises and the automotive industry.
Exactly at the time when Ilgiz Valitov headed the Department of regional projects at VEB another large plant was launched in the Leningrad region in 2008. At that time VEB invested in the construction of a factory for the production of new type railway cars in the city of Tikhvin. VEB and EDB provided 9.65 billion rubles each of the 38 billion rubles announced for the project. Already in 2012, the Tikhvin railway car-building factory demonstrated its first products to Vladimir Putin (at that time he held the position of Prime Minister of the Russian Federation), and now it produces 10,000 cars on a Barber trolley with increased load capacity and extended service life annually. The launched TVZ became the largest industrial facilityin mechanical engineering which was built in Europe. And for residents of Tikhvin, the factory has become a city-forming enterprise with 5,000 new jobs.
As we have already noted, the interests of Ilgiz Valitov, who always found the most promising areas for VEB to invest, were not limited only in industrial production. His abilities were also reflected in projects of agro-industrial complex. For example, an agricultural holding Miratorg, well-known to all Russians, has become a leader in a number of key areas of Russian agriculture, mostly due to VEB's credit support.
In 2010, Vnesheconombank started financing Miratorg's project of beef production in the Bryansk region. The project total amount of investment exceeded 24 billion rubles, of which 21 billion was allocated by VEB.
In January 2015, Vnesheconombank and Bryansk Meat Company (a part of Miratorg) signed a loan agreement worth $ 425.8 million for 15 years as part of a project to increase the production of high-quality beef. Attracting of VEB resources provided for the return of another 200 thousand hectares of abandoned land to agricultural turnover, for the increase of the maternal herd up to 200 thousand heads and the total livestock up to 500 thousand heads, for the construction of 31 new farms, and for the increase of output up to 130 thousand tons of beef per year. The total cost of the project was 871.5 million dollars, Vnesheconombank's loan was 742 million dollars, consisting of two credit lines - 425.8 million and 316.2 million.
Within a short period of time, credit funds enabled new cattle breeding assets to be raised from scratch in the Orel, Kaluga, Bryansk, Tula, Smolensk and Kursk Regions, thus creating the most powerful cluster of highly productive cattle breeds across the country. In 2017, Miratorg Holding was included in the list of systemically important enterprises of the Russian Federation.
Much attention and work has been invested in the development of the Kaluga Region economy. In 2010, Vnesheconombank and the Kaluga Region Development Corporation signed a share purchase and sale agreement. The agreement was concluded as part of the financing of Phase 2 of the project "Development of Industrial Park Infrastructure in the Kaluga Region: formation of a cluster for the production of cars and car components".
As part of Phase 1 of the project, in June 2008, Vnesheconombank and JSC Corporation for Development of the Kaluga Region entered into a 10-year loan agreement for 2.389 billion rubles. Phase 2 of the project was financed by Vnesheconombank by opening a credit line of 3.219 billion rubles for a period of 10 years and Vnesheconombank's participation in the authorized capital of the Kaluga Region Development Corporation OJSC.
Vnesheconombank's loan facility financed work for 2.5 billion. In October 2009, a small assembly shop was put into operation at the Volkswagen Rus plant. A full range of work was carried out to prepare a 195 hectare industrial site for the Peugeot Citroën Mitsubishi Automobiles plant in the Rosva Industrial Park. In April 2010, car production was launched at the Peugeot Citroën Mitsubishi Automobiles plant. As a result of the project's implementation between 2008 and 2019, the total amount of tax revenue to budgets of all levels was more than 80 billion and thousands of new jobs were created.
Ilgiz Valitov's experience and professionalism did not fail here either. The partnership between the Development Corporation of the Kaluga Region and such a reliable and authoritative organization as Vnesheconombank was an additional incentive for investors to conclude investment agreements.
Another successful project was the medicines manufacturing plant. In 2010, Vnesheconombank (VEB) opened a 66 million euro (approx. 2.7 billion rubles) credit line for CJSC Rafarma to finance a project of organizing and building a plant for antibiotics and antitumormedicinesproduction in the Terbuny Special Economic Zone, Lipetsk Region.
The credit resources were provided by VEB to the enterprise for the period of 7 years. The production capacity of the enterprises was about 100 million packages of antibiotics and 869 thousand packages of antitumor pills per year. This volume of production, as previously reported by the Bank, may cover the need for individual items in six main regions of Russia, in particular, Moscow, Moscow region, Krasnodar region, St. Petersburg, Republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan.
As a result of the project, the share of imported medicines on certain antibiotic items was reduced by 60-70%, including 15% of the total amount of antibiotics produced. The project was supported by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development and the Lipetsk Region Administration. It was in line with the main provisions of the development strategy of the Russian pharmaceutical industry for the period until 2020.
The chemical industry was also not spared the attention of an experienced top manager from VEB. CJSC Verkhnekamsk Potash Company (VPC) has implemented Acron Group's strategic project to create its own potash resource base. In 2008, Acron Group acquired a license to develop the Talitsky area of the Verkhnekamsk potassium-magnesium salts deposit (VPMSD). The main areas of the company's work in 2009-2012 were geological and geophysical studies and preparation of the Talitsky mine construction project. In 2019, the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Perm Region and Verkhnekamsk Potash Company (CJSC VPC) signed a special investment contract (SPIC) for the creation of an industrial production facility "Development of the Talitsky area of the Verkhnekamsk potassium-magnesium salt deposit in the Perm Region with a capacity of 2 million tonnes of potassium chloride per year". Total investment in the project will amount to 87 billion rubles.
"Development of the potassium-magnesium salts deposit and construction of a modern mining and processing complex is a significant moment for both the industry and the region. The contract will regulate special measures to stimulate the company's industrial activities under stable and fixed conditions, and will also create new jobs," said Minister of Industry Denis Manturov.
According to Maxim Reshetnikov, Governor of the Perm Region, the new production of VPC is an export-oriented project that will enable the first batch of products to be received as early as 2023. "For the Perm Region, this is first and foremost important because we expect the investor to create new, well-paid jobs," said the head of the region.
And such projects in Russia, when VEB's investments gave a powerful impetus to the development not only of a single region but also of an entire industry, Ilgiz Valitov's management portfolio includes more than a dozen ones. All of them have been implemented, tested over time and highly appreciated by experts and specialists from various fields. However, Ilgiz Valitov remains one of the most experienced and promising managers in modern Russia, who can implement morethan one such project, ensuring the stability of the Russian economy and a stable income to tens thousands of our citizens.