New hanger complex under construction

Published: 3/27/2000

Krasnoyarsk Airlines (Krasair) decided to pay it shareholders a dividend of Rb3.16 a share at its recent AGM. Given the airline has only 470,000 shares outstanding, the 13 cents of dividend is not particularly exciting, but in the current Russian air transport sector it does reflect some degree of confidence from the current management. The meeting reappointed the Chairman of the board Svyatoslav Petrushko, who is also the Deputy Governor of the Krasnoyarsk Region and board member Boris Abramovich, the General Director of Krasnoyarsk Aluminium, the most powerful company in the region. Krasair, which still controls Krasnoyarsk Airport, is currently building a hanger complex capable of taking three Il-86s at the airport at a cost of $19.4m, adding to the $15.5m the company says was spent at the airport between 1993-1998. This statement by Krasair at the time of the AGM, may be designed to emphasise the success of keeping airline and airport together, after a motion pushed by the regional government to split the two, was acrimoniously thrown out by an EGM in October 1999 due to the Federal government deciding not to vote its 51% shareholding. The holding was subsequently transferred to the regional government in exchange for federal debts to the region's budget, although no further plans to split the two entities were revealed. The company also announced a placement of stock amounting to 10% of the outstanding equity for $2,350,000. The nature of the placement is uncertain, as the ownership of the airline is currently split between the regional investment fund (51%), and the employees. It is unclear if they will take up the stock or whether it will be placed with a third party.

Article ID: 1732