bankruptcy symptoms
Rusnano Group has not been able to settle all debt obligations using internal funds, and the organization is showing signs aligned with bankruptcy, according to a report published on the Corporate Disclosure Center’s website.
As of June 30, 2023, creditors’ claims against Rusnano, excluding interest on loans and coupon income from issued bonds, exceeded the company’s asset value. Under the Bankruptcy Code terminology, the company is in bankruptcy. The report notes that the scale of loans and bond repayments due by the end of 2023 makes it objectively impossible for Rusnano JSC to fulfill these obligations solely from its own resources.
Data in the document also indicate that Rusnano’s net debt in the first half of 2023 surpassed 95 billion rubles. Since December 2022, the debt figure rose by nearly 5 billion rubles, attributed to a decrease in short term financial investments in the period. Revenue and profit figures were not disclosed by the organization.
In December, the company faces repayment of 10 billion rubles in publicly traded bonds.
Questions since 2013
On October 19, 2022, the Vedomosti newspaper, citing three federal officials, reported that the government was considering disbanding Rusnano. The organization itself advocated shifting the financing model for new projects toward higher private capital participation as the most suitable path for restructuring.
Meanwhile, Artem Kiryanov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, stressed the need to develop Russia’s high tech sector and achieve a strong import substitution effect. He proposed that Rusnano receive greater financial support to meet this objective.
The Accounts Chamber scrutinized Rusnano’s profitability and project effectiveness between 2013 and 2016. By 2020 the agency documented losses around 53 billion rubles and a debt of about 146 billion rubles. In 2021 Rusnano reported a net profit of 0.7 billion rubles, yet the organization disclosed that more than 82 billion rubles had been spent on debt servicing since 2021. The agency’s challenges intensified after sanctions imposed on Russia in 2022.
In March 2022 the European Union imposed personal restrictive measures on Rusnano’s management, marking a further layer of financial pressure in a challenging external environment. [Citation: Corporate Disclosure Center and Accounts Chamber reports]
Why did he run away?
In April 2022 Rusnano’s head, Sergei Kulikov, asked Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov to audit the organization’s activities from 2010 to 2020, the period when Anatoly Chubais headed Rusnano. Kulikov noted that debt stood above 146 billion rubles at the end of 2020. [Citation: Internal audit request noted in governmental records]
Chubais led Rusnano from 2008 to 2020, after which he was appointed by President Vladimir Putin as a special representative for relations with international organizations. Bloomberg sources indicate that Chubais left Russia in March 2022. During the Eastern Economic Forum in September, Putin connected Chubais’ departure to the financial deficit within Rusnano’s nanotechnology framework. The president remarked that the organization faced a substantial deficit and significant financial pressures. [Citation: Public speeches and government summaries]