How the transport holding of entrepreneur Sergei Shishkarev works
Recently, a lot of materials have appeared in the media, one way or another related to the activities of the Delo group of companies, the Dubai operators CStar Line and MAS , as well as with the person uniting the above-mentioned companies, entrepreneur Sergei Shishkarev. Experts analyze the businessman’s activities and try to understand how he manages to invest in the country’s economy and do business with his partner, the Rosatom state corporation.
Photo: wikipedia.org
Let us remind you that in 2019, the capital of Delo Group of Companies Rosatom entered, purchasing a 30% stake in the company. In 2022, Rosatom exercised an option to acquire 19% in a group of companies ahead of schedule. Thus, currently 51% of the shares belong to Sergei Shishkarev, the rest is owned by the state corporation. The group owns and manages a network of sea and railway terminals, a fleet, and equipment for the transportation of goods in domestic and international traffic. GC «Delo» provides almost half of the total volume of cargo transportation throughout the country. Thus, Sergey Shishkarev and the Delo group, in fact, support the development of the country’s strategic infrastructure, since Delo’s profits are The state-owned Rosatom also earns money. But perhaps not always.
Mountain Air Shipping (MAS) began operations in late August-early September 2022. It did not become part of the Delo group of companies, but nevertheless received exclusive working conditions at Russian terminals that are part of the Delo group of companies.
The fact is that since the beginning of the special military operation, almost all international lines have left Russia. As a result, the acute question arose of how to bring imports into Russia and how to export them. It was then that the decision was made to create the Dubai company MAS. It occupied the vacated niche to ensure the delivery and removal of cargo, and worked in both the Far East and Novorossiysk.
“Logically, the MAS company should have been part of the Delo group. But it turned out that this was not the case. I don’t know her status at the moment, because I left the company in the fall of 2023,” said “MK” a former top manager of the company who wished to remain anonymous (hereinafter referred to as Ivan I.).
Our interlocutor emphasized that it is difficult for him to judge why MAS was not included in the group of companies.
«Why Sergei Nikolaevich decided that it would be better if the operator was controlled by him personally, there is no explanation,» – he noted.
In fact, the clients of MAS were the companies of the Delo group: the NUTEP container terminal, which transships container cargo in the port of Novorossiysk, and the Eastern Stevedoring Company. — container terminal in the Vostochny seaport. It was these companies that transshipped cargo in the Far East.
«I don’t know other clients, and whether there were any at all. I suspect not,” our interlocutor emphasized.
Let's return directly to MAS. A young shipping company needs to have working capital. Whose money did MAS work with?
«At first, the company was financed from the funds of TransContainer. (an asset of the Delo group),” notes the ex-representative of the Group of Companies.
It turns out that the company controlled by Sergei Shishkarev is not part of the group, but works for Delo. From this we can conclude that MAS was certainly involved in the work of the group. But was the “Cause” itself damaged in this way? It is clear that this question must first of all be addressed to law enforcement agencies. But even without their verdict, it is clear that the young company must be financed at someone else’s expense.
“MAS constantly had debts to the companies of the Delo group.” As I understand it, any debt must be repaid. When I left their group of companies, there was a debt. The question has been raised several times. Instructions were given to terminals requiring them to take measures to repay the debt. It’s difficult for me to judge whether it has been repaid now or not,” says MK’s interlocutor.
Meanwhile, when some company carries out sea transportation, for example, to the terminal of the Eastern Stevedoring Company or to the NUTEP terminal, the new company will not be able to take and fill the entire terminal. Even if a year or two has passed since its creation. MAS did not have its own ships. The vessels were chartered.
“The terminal capacity MAS could not fill. If we talk about the terminal of the Eastern Stevedoring Company, then other operators also worked there. But the fact is that during the year of operation MAS, judging by the data of the company itself, occupied a very large niche in transportation, yes,” continues Ivan I.
At first, MAS was financed by advance payments from TransContainer. In principle, sea carriers work both on advances and on delivery. If I were the general director of the terminal and a new shipping line came to me and said that it would start transporting if I paid advances, then it would be reasonable on my part to ask for some kind of guarantee of the return of these funds.
“It is difficult to imagine that a conscientious company could not ask for such guarantees. But, since everyone understood what the MAS company was, they did not ask for guarantees: the shareholder gave his word, the shareholder will keep it,” – says the ex-manager.
MAS worked in 2022 and the entire first quarter of 2023. Then all the freight that MAS had was transferred to CStar Line. In fact, CStar Line acted as the legal successor, but in a legal sense this is not the case, since these are different companies. Somewhere in May-June, CStar Line began its work. MAS has ceased its activities.
“Why this decision was made and why MAS was not happy, I don’t know. It is unknown why the company’s activities should be in a new legal shell. In my opinion, this is a rather interesting operation: the MAS staff became the CStar staff, the office remained the same, as well as the responsibilities and functions, – our interlocutor continues. – People have changed. At the end of 2022, there was a change of general director. He became Zsolt Katona. He brought his team, but some of the old team still remained. In essence, everything remains the same.”
If we consider this story from the perspective of one of the co-owners of the “Delo” group, namely – Rosatom, then Shishkarev really takes part in management, Ivan I. is convinced.
“Sergey Nikolaevich takes part in management. He formed the key top management. He made personnel decisions. He exercised control over the company's activities. I wouldn’t say that this is just profit-taking,” he concludes.
But, meanwhile, if any profitable company, if it is part of a group, then it works for the group. If a firm works for a group but outside the group, then it produces financial results for only one of the shareholders. And this is not related to the issue of abuse. It's just a fact. If the company operates successfully, then it could work in the interests of the entire group.
«The question of damages depends either on operational issues (for example, what the rates are) or on something else. But I was not directly involved in operational activities, but worked in a management company. It turns out that all subholdings were free in their operational activities. And here it would be good to ask questions to the managers of Transcontainer, NUTEP and Eastern Stevedoring Company, emphasizes Ivan I.
It turns out that the issue of possible damage is directly related to the outstanding debt of CStar (formerly MAS) . If it exists, then the damage was caused to both the Delo group and its shareholders, including the state corporation Rosatom.
In order to ensure the objectivity of the information disseminated, the editors turned to the transport holding company with a request to comment on the information, provided by our source. At the time of publication of this article, the editor's request remained unanswered.