The appointment of Mil temporary manager draws closer to its conclusion, but the winner is by no means certain

Published: 11/17/1999

On the 25th of November, the Moscow Arbitration Court will appoint a new external manager for the bankrupt helicopter plant OAO MVZ, known more commonly as Mil, against a background of some intrigue as to who will take the post of permanent ‘temporary" manager at the helicopter maker. The favoured candidates for the role are Leonid Zapolsky and Sergey Belagour. Unusually, the two have both been the temporary manager of Mil over the last five months, as Belagour was the first temporary manager appointed on the 16th of July, a month after the plant went into administration in June (www.concise 17th September 1999). Belogour also oversaw the seven month observation period , which involves the gathering of the various claims against the company. The process was however, not particularly well administered and the Arbitration Court was required to extend the observation period to get the claims in reasonable order. His appointment as temporary manager was however, rescinded on the 2nd of September when a superior court, at the beset of two of Mil"s creditors, Unikombank one of the Moscow Oblast"s largest banks, although now without licence and in bankruptcy, and TsAGI, the Zhukovsky based testing facility, overturned the right of the Arbitration Court to appoint the manager and replaced him with Zapolsky. On the 13th October however, the Arbitration Court supported by another creditor Mezhregiongaz , re-established its right to appoint the manager and nominated the 26 year old Belagour again as the external manager, reinstating him as the acting external manager. The creditors committee agreed to support Zapolosky as temporary manager at their meeting on the 15th November, according to Mil, which followed the endorsement of Belogour by the Russian Aerospace Agency on the 3rd of November. So it remains uncertain just who will be running Mil after the 25th November, but the smart money appears to favour Belogour, but given events of the last few weeks it appears to be anyone"s guess. The creditors committee did however; agree on the manager"s salary of 30,000 rubles ($1100) a month. The reason for the dispute is not entirely clear, but the plant is considered to be of significant importance to Moscow"s mayor Luzkov, both as a creditor and as part of the city"s technology base. The major debtors to the plant according to reports, are the Federal government, in the form of a number of ministries including the Ministry of Defence, so it is not difficult to develop a city against state struggle scenario. The participation of some many parties with broad political affiliations however, make the sides difficult to define, but it would seem that Belogour is the outsider and the government man and Zapolsky should be viewed as the management"s choice given the support of TsAGI , which operates closely with Mil.

Article ID: 1090