PRESS: UralChem, Uralkali’s management merger may happen in 2021

MOSCOW, Nov 17 (PRIME) -- Dmitry Mazepin, the core shareholder of Russian fertilizer producers UralChem and Uralkali, plans to restructure the companies’ management in 2021 by merging them into one management company, Kommersant business daily reported on Tuesday.

Mazepin, who controls UralChem and owns a 46.37% stake in Uralkali, fired CEOs of the two companies. Vitaly Lauk, who has been Uralkali’s technical director since 2017, will act as CEOs of the two companies. Sources told Kommersant that this appointment is temporary, and later one CEO will be appointed for both chemical companies.

A source told the business daily that the changes have been planned for long as part of a large-scale reorganization of Mazepin’s chemical business. The sources also said that Mazepin wants to raise his stake in Uralkali to 75% soon and to consolidate 100% in the asset after that.

“These conditions are stipulated in a credit agreement of the businessman with Sberbank, the bank where Dmitry Mazepin refinanced an almost U.S. $4 billion debt of UralChem to VTB in late 2019. The company asked the Federal Antimonopoly Service for permission to buy the shares a long time ago, but consideration of the deal has been going on for a long time,” Kommersant said.

Mazepin’s representative Rinat Gizatulin confirmed management reshuffle in Uralkali and UralChem. “They lie within the changes of management structure of both companies. In 2021, we will finish the merger for the managements of Uralkali and UralChem, whose current management will be transferred to the head of a joint management company, who has not been appointed yet,” Gizatulin said.

The two former CEOs will stay with the companies and receive new duties. Dmitry Osipov, former Uralkali CEO, will focus on strategic development of the company’s new projects, including foreign projects, while former UralChem CEO Sergei Momtselidze will be tasked with raising safety at UralChem. The restructuring should improve efficiency of the two companies, he said.

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