If you combine the assets of these companies, you can get a world leader in the field of container shipping, comparable in its capacity to Maersk.
But for now, this is just a prospect.
Sergei Shishkarev, one of the co-owners of Delo, announced the potential for the merger.
At the moment, this group of companies controls TransContainer, the largest Russian container carrier.
At the same time, Fesco owns not only the Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port (VMTP), but also has its own sea lines and 21 transport ships.
As a result, with the merger of the companies, it would be possible to create a giant that would have huge capacities both on land and at sea. According to Shishkarev, this would allow Delo Group to solve its problems with sea transport.
However, we cannot yet say that the unification is about to take place.
Everything at the moment is limited only by the expressed interest on the part of Delo Group, while the representatives of Fesco prefer not to speak out on this matter.
What are the chances of a merger?
Delo Group can be called quite aggressive in relation to the merger of other companies. A couple of years ago, when the auction for the privatization of Transcontainer had just been won, representatives of the Cause started talking about Fesco.
Now, as Shishkarev noted, it is planned to hold negotiations on this topic with Rosatom, which owns 30% of Delo Group.
As for the representatives of Fesco, recently one of the largest shareholders, Ziyavudin Magomedov, who owns more than 30% of the shares, spoke out strongly against selling the company.
Currently, Mikhail Rabinovich and Andrey Severilov are at the helm of Fesco. According to their latest statements, the company has its own direction of development.
“Now that we have formed a team and identified a development model, we understand that this asset is a diamond in the Russian economy and we definitely have long-term plans for its development,” Severilov said in an interview this summer.
At the same time, as Shishkarev noted, now is not the best moment for unification. The market is too unstable, and it is difficult to come to an agreement.
For example, this concerns the rates for sea transportation, which today may be the same, and tomorrow they will be completely different. As a result, it is very difficult to calculate the profitability of a business.
Despite the fact that while representatives of Fesco do not speak out about a possible merger, this, according to experts, does not mean that they are not considering such an option.
Even if there is interest, before taking such a step, it is very important to calculate everything. This includes choosing the right moment and not provoking a fall in the share price with premature statements.
