FESCO Transportation Group is negotiating the sale of its business in the market of grain transportation. The deal can be closed in the beginning of 2020, FESCO President Aleksandr Isurin told journalists in Moscow. According to a market source, a possible buyer is GC RTC (a company of VTB Group).
“We are negotiating the departure from the grain segment. If our partner obtains the permit of FAS before the end of the year the deal can be closed in the first quarter of 2020. The price has been discussed but we cannot reveal it”, said FESCO President.
Among the reasons of the sale he mentioned the grain market slump and the need to decrease the company’s debt load.
According to Aleksandr Isurin, grain transportation by the Group is forecasted to drop by over a half this year (from 2.9 million tonnes in 2018).
FESCO is one of the leading public transportation and logistics companies in Russia with operations in ports, rail, integrated logistics and shipping business. Diversified but integrated asset portfolio enables FESCO to provide door-to-door logistics solutions and control almost all steps of the intermodal transportation value chain. FESCO controls the Commercial Port of Vladivostok, rail operator Transgarant and Russkaya Troyka (75% minus one share) brands. FESCO operates a fleet of 14 thousand units of rolling stock, including 5 thousand container platforms, and 40 thousand containers as well.
FESCO has a fleet of 20 vessels, mostly deployed through own sea service lines.