Return to Alabuga: billionaires Rybakov and Kolesnikov invest heavily in Tatarstan

Contribution to import substitution

The opening ceremony of the plant for the production of construction chemicals was held with the participation of Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, Head of the Department of Metallurgy and Materials of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Pavel Servatinsky, as well as BOERNER owner Sergey Kolesnikov.

According to the data announced during the solemn launching ceremony of the enterprise, the production capacity of the plant is 10,000 tonnes of construction foam a year, which is enough for the construction of about 100,000 multi-storey buildings. The products will be produced on the Swiss line, created by special order, and the foam formulation was developed in its own research centre. The main investor of the project is a Russian billionaire, the richest businessman with a fortune of 1,3 billion dollars — co-owner of TechnoNICOL Sergey Kolesnikov, who invested 650 million rubles in the Tatarstan plant.

“In 2015, when I bought the BOERNER plant, I did not even think that four years later I would open a German brand in Russia,” Sergey Kolesnikov made a welcoming speech. “The idea just came to me because Germany has always been associated with high quality. In addition, 80% of the foam in Russia was simply imported — it was a sin not to use it. In my opinion, we have come in proper time, and we can make a big contribution to import substitution in our country as a whole.”

At the opening of the plant, the owner of BOERNER, Kolesnikov, said that the SEZ Alabuga together with the directorate of the economic zone provided the company with good tax preferences, which “allow to save and give two additional years of benefit in terms of the payback of the project.”

“In fact, it is import substitution. At the same time, the product itself is really very necessary for the construction industry,” said Head of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov. “The president of our country has set a difficult task: to double the construction of housing. This task cannot be accomplished without modern and innovative products. However, the construction industry today requires high-quality and modern products. We wish you further expansion of production and are ready to assist in the promotion of your project.”

Return to Alabuga

According to the speaker, an important role in the implementation of the project was played by the right choice of the region-site. Sergey Kolesnikov believes that Tatarstan takes the first place in the rating of investment attractiveness of the Russian regions for a reason, because “it is very convenient to work here, they treat investors very well, plus there is a good infrastructure”. It is noteworthy that the second co-owner of TechnoNICOL corporation, richest Russian businessman-billionaire Igor Rybakov, is also very positive towards the republic. Judging by the pictures in the account of Rustam Minnikhanov, we can see the warm relations between Rybakov and the president of Tatarstan.

Rybakov has recently been engaged in coaching and YouTube. It is known that the newly opened plant is not the first enterprise of the billionaire in Tatarstan. It is Alabuga which Rybakov approved as a platform to locate the plant for the production of synthetic wax in the framework of the project Russian Wax. The latter became the subject of a business reality show on YouTube and utterly failed at the launch stage, although the company operates to this day. Of course, Alabuga has nothing to do with it — the problems of the project are disclosed in detail in the editions of the show on video hosting. As you can see, Rybakov and Kolesnikov again placed stake on Tatarstan.

Meanwhile, after the official part, in which a welcome letter from Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov was also read out, the plant's employees launched the production line and gave a tour for high-ranking guests. At the end of the presentation, Rustam Minnikhanov, Sergey Kolesnikov and Pavel Servatinskiy independently tested the foam produced in the new plant.

Cooperation with Nizhnekamskneftekhim and dreams about MDI

As the owner of BOERNER, Sergey Kolesnikov, told Realnoe Vremya, in the long term he hopes “to find a common language with colleagues from Nizhnekamskneftekhim — it concerns the production and supply of polyesters for the opened plant of construction foam. The interlocutor of our edition specifies that the negotiations on the matter are already underway and the parties “are in constant contact”.

“Besides, Russia does not produce MDI (chemical base to produce polyurethane foam — editor’s note). I see only three candidates that in the future can run such production: Sibur, Nizhnekamskneftekhim and Lukoil. MDI — is not only polyurethane foam but also hard boards for construction, car seats, sponges for washing dishes, refrigerators, washing machines, sofas, furniture and more. There are five companies — in America, China, Europe and Saudi Arabia — that actually control 80% of this market. There is one of the potential projects in India, but in Russia, unfortunately, there are no applications for such production yet. It would be good if Russia and, in particular, Nizhnekamskneftekhim, were interested in the implementation of such project,” said Sergey Kolesnikov.

New residents of Alabuga

Within the visit to SEZ Alabuga, Rustam Minnikhanov took part in the meeting of the supervisory board of the special economic zone on the issue of obtaining the status of a resident by six companies.

On 18 July, the fate of Alkem PLC (production of decorative PVC films for furniture facades), 2BIO JSC (production of PHA bioplastics), CBT Alabuga PLC (the production of basalt continuous fibers), Liliani-Technology PLC (production of agricultural machinery), Akonit-Ural JSC (the manufacture of conveyor rollers and steel structures), and Yugostroy RU PLC (manufacture of hydraulic equipment).

Following the results of the meeting, all above listed enterprises have obtained the status of a resident of SEZ Alabuga.