IA SakhaNews. Rusnano called the project for the production of LED lighting equipment by the Optogan company a major technological loss in an interview with TASS, the chairman of the board of Rusnano Management Company Anatoly Chubais.

“We wanted to enter the market with a large project, I mean the Optogan company for the production of full-cycle LEDs. And it's a pity that it didn't work. But Rusnano still managed to keep one of the technological redistributions - the packaging of LED devices. we are developing now ", - he said.

Recall that one of the founders of Optogan is the Republican Investment Company (RIC), which in the middle of 2009 more than 600 million rubles invested in a joint venture with Rusnano. The shares of the founders were distributed as follows: Rusnano - 17%, RIC - about 32%, Lesaro Co (from the ONEXIM group) - 51%. For four years, investors promised to invest in Optogan. "Russian bloggers then called the LED lamps" Chubais bulbs. "

The plant of the Optogan group of companies was opened on November 29, 2010. The first production line of the plant with a capacity of 360 million LEDs per year was launched. Investments in the project amounted to about 10 million euros. The company was engaged in LED packaging and LED matrix production.

ZAO Optogan had several production sites in Germany and Russia. A plant for the assembly of LED lamps was also opened in Yakutsk, for which a small innovative enterprise "Sahadiod" was created.

On March 3, 2011, the Optogan Tallinn enterprise in St. Petersburg, which produced LED chips, super-bright LEDs, LED modules, lamps for indoor and outdoor lighting, was visited by the President of the Russian Federation at that time. Dmitry Medvedev.

In general, this enterprise was not deprived of the attention of high-ranking officials. For example, the launch was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. Sergey Ivanov, Governor of St. Petersburg Valentina Matvienko, General Director of the State Corporation "Rosnanotech" Anatoly Chubais, President of ONEXIM Group Mikhail Prokhorov other. There was also a delegation of Yakutia, it was headed by the President of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Egor Borisov.

Even about this project, in the emergence of which it was the head of Rusnano that played an important role, harsh criticism and suggestions were made that all of this was more like a scam: Optogan's business gave practically no profit at that time. The income received barely covered the losses, and the publications in the media were more like a PR campaign.

"Throughout 2010, optoganes are actively spending the founders' money: they buy a plant, expensive equipment, hire staff (mostly former fashion models), buy themselves luxury BMWs (the most expensive model), etc. There was also a small scam along the way: on At the meeting with President Medvedev, Chubais promised to release his own LED light bulb for the total replacement of analog lamps, bypassing the intermediate stage of energy-saving fluorescent bulbs.

For decent money we ordered the design of the future "Chubais light bulb" from the glamorous designer Artemy Lebedev. Themselves took up the development and design of a new lighting device. And the light bulb was born. On September 2, Chubais lit an LED lamp named after himself at a presentation in the workshop of Artemy Lebedev. On close examination appearance Chubais light bulbs are not much different from their Chinese counterparts. As evil tongues say, the insides are also almost the same. The price of the new light bulb for the consumer exceeds its Chinese counterpart by 40%. Who would buy a bulb like this? Only an abnormal and ... ... state structures ", in 2011, a Yakut journalist Alexander Zlobin.

Financier George Soros believes that Russia may face bankruptcy in 2017, when the deadline for repayment of a significant part of foreign loans comes. To avoid this, Putin wants to push the European Union to collapse

Billionaire George Soros (Photo: Zuma \ TASS)

"The Putin regime faces bankruptcy in 2017, when a significant portion of its foreign loans are due," warns billionaire George Soros in a column published by Project-syndicate.org. According to the financier, the popularity of the incumbent Russian President Vladimir Putin is based on a "contract with society", according to which the incumbent head of state must ensure financial stability and a steady (even slow) rise in living standards.

“Due to Western sanctions, coupled with a sharp decline in oil prices, the Russian authorities are unable to keep any of these promises. The Russian budget deficit is 7% of GDP and the government will have to cut it to 3% to keep inflation from spiraling out of control. These and other events will have negative consequences for the standard of living and the opinion of voters on the eve of the parliamentary elections in the fall, ”says Soros's column.

According to Soros, the collapse of the European Union could help Putin stay in power, the collapse of which would free Russia from at least part of the sanctions imposed on it. Moreover, Putin will be able to reap significant economic benefits from the division of Europe and take advantage of the ties with the anti-European parties he carefully nurtures, says Soros.

It is the desire to push the EU towards collapse, according to the billionaire, that explains the current Russian policy in Syria, in which the hostilities increase the influx of refugees to Europe. Soros believes that the invasion of migrants could destroy the EU, which is now forced to deal with five or six crises at the same time, and Putin, as a "genius tactician", could not help but take advantage of the opportunity to accelerate the collapse of the European Union.

Video: TV channel RBC

The current leaders of the EU countries, according to Soros, are making a "terrible mistake" by considering Putin a potential ally in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS, an organization banned in Russia). Soros considers the threat posed by ISIS to be exaggerated, while he calls Russia the EU's rival in the "race to survive."

“Putin's Russia and the EU are in a race against time: the question is which of them will collapse first ... The threat posed by Putin's Russia is difficult to fight. Failure to acknowledge the threat will make the task even more difficult, ”writes Soros.

According to the Central Bank, in January-September 2017, Russia will have to pay off a little less than $ 60 billion on foreign debts.

In November 2015, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation established the Open Society and Assistance Foundations by Soros. In the message of the Prosecutor General's Office, it was noted that the activities of the organizations "pose a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order of the Russian Federation and the security of the state."

Forbes magazine experts estimate Soros's fortune at $ 24.9 billion. Recently, the billionaire has been actively criticizing Russia's actions, as well as EU policies. In particular, he advised German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande. In the fall of 2015, Soros said that one of the reasons for the migration crisis was the fact that the EU states "selfishly focused on their own interests."

Soros also said that China, which is also threatened with disintegration, could become the instigator of the Third World War. In his opinion, if China fails to reorient its economy towards meeting domestic demand instead of exporting, there is a "chance" that its rulers will start an external conflict to prevent the country's disintegration and stay in power.

In early 2016, Soros spoke about the imminent "hard landing" of the Chinese economy, which will lead to a drop in quotations on world stock markets and a global increase in deflationary pressure.

The tallest oligarch in Russia, after the sale of assets, transferred almost all projects to the United States and began to build a new image there.

This summer, Mikhail Prokhorov unexpectedly appeared on the CBS channel in the program The Late Show of the famous American showman Stephen Colbert. “In 1995, a friend of [current Russian President Vladimir] Putin, Mikhail Prokhorov, stumbled upon a gold mine, or rather a nickel one. He was allowed to buy out Norilsk Nickel for just a nickel coin. After the scandal in Courchevel, Putin forced him to sell his stake in Norilsk Nickel. For the lucky Mishka, all this ended in $ 9 billion ”- this is how Colbert described the whole history of Prokhorov's business too freely. The rest of the plot boiled down to a tour of the businessman's mansion and mutual jokes of the interlocutors.

The usually restrained Prokhorov in the role unusual for prim Russian businessmen appeared not by chance, his acquaintance is sure. He believes that this is part of a campaign to build a new image of a businessman in the United States. Representatives of Prokhorov and Colbert did not comment on the businessman's participation in the satirical show.

Instead of the lost CSKA club, Prokhorov after his divorce from Potanin at the end of 2009 acquired from the American developer Bruce Ratner 80% in the American basketball team Brooklyn Nets from New York (formerly New Jersey Nets). For Europe, the purchase of football clubs by Arab sheikhs or billionaires from other countries is not news for a long time, but for the United States, Prokhorov's deal was a revelation. Until then, only Americans owned NBA clubs. Photo: Kent Smith / NBAE / Getty Images / AFP

For a long time, Prokhorov has no new large projects in Russia, but the sports and development business in the United States is actively developing, his acquaintance recalls. The assumption of Vedomosti's interlocutor seems convincing if we remember that since 2015 Prokhorov has only been selling Russian assets. The main sale started in the summer of 2016. As a result, according to Bloomberg's estimates, Prokhorov's basketball team and development projects in the United States cost at least $ 2.2 billion, while Russian assets are worth $ 1.8 billion.

How to lose $ 3 billion

Six years ago, Prokhorov took 3rd place in the Russian Forbes list with an estimate of his fortune at $ 18 billion.His portfolio then had 17.02% of shares in UC Rusal, 37.78% of Russia's largest gold producer Polyus Gold International Limited, as well as an energy company "Quadra", developer OPIN, insurance "Consent", banks "Renaissance Credit", "Renaissance Capital" and MFK, media holdings RBK and "Zhivi!", As well as a project to organize the production of a hybrid "Yo-mobile"

At the same time, Prokhorov went into politics, first heading the "Right Cause" party, and in 2012 becoming Putin's sparring partner in the presidential elections. 5.7 million Russians (7.98%) voted for the businessman.

After the elections, Prokhorov made his last major investment in Russia - at the end of 2013, together with Dmitry Mazepin, he bought a 47% stake in Uralkali from the structures of Suleiman Kerimov using a VTB loan. Prokhorov himself got 27%. Sources of Vedomosti told then that the entire Uralkali for the deal was valued at $ 20 billion, and the purchased stake cost $ 5.4 billion. But the deal turned out to be one of the businessman's most unsuccessful investments, on which he could lose up to $ 2.8 billion ...

In 2014, one of the company's mines was hit by a flood. Uralkali has paid substantial dividends to shareholders at all times. After all, the company's EBITDA profitability did not fall below 50% even during the crisis. But after the flood, the management announced the need to dramatically increase the investment program by cutting dividends.

The company's value began to fall. In 2015, Onexim sold to Uralkali during the buyback of 7% of its shares, losing about $ 700 million, the difference between the purchase price in 2013 and the price of the announced buyout. The remaining 20% ​​of Uralkali were sold in July 2016 to Mazepin's classmate Dmitry Lobyak. A person close to Onexim told Vedomosti at the time that Uralkali was valued at $ 9.7 billion for the deal. That is, Prokhorov could get up to $ 1.9 billion for 20% of Uralkali, having lost another $ 2 on the deal. 1 billion

The losses include the Yo-mobile project, closed in 2014, in which investments were estimated at $ 200 million, the Live! Media holding, in the creation of which $ 80 million was invested (data from Meduza). Since March 2017, JSC PHK (formerly Optogan), a St. Petersburg manufacturer of LEDs, a joint venture between Onexim and Rusnano, has been in bankruptcy.

“Prokhorov is depressed, he decided to retire from business,” says a businessman from the “gold list” of Forbes. "Prokhorov has no depression, he is generally an unemotional person," his close acquaintance argues. Prokhorov has become uninterested in operating business since about 2011, he continues. Therefore, the billionaire decided to get involved in politics. After the failure, Prokhorov is in search, hence the impression of his "depression", says his acquaintance.

Cash lover

“As they say in well-known circles, he [Prokhorov] lost his money, he has money. He walks to different offices, he came to me recently, we have good relations with him, looking for various uses for these funds. But obligations must be fulfilled, "- then Prime Minister Vladimir Putin chided the Quadra beneficiary Prokhorov in February 2010 at a meeting on the development of the electric power industry. According to Forbes, in 2009, Prokhorov really accumulated a record $ 6.1 billion in cash, which allowed him then to become a leader in the ranking of Russian billionaires (total fortune - $ 9.5 billion).

After the division of assets with Vladimir Potanin, Mikhail Prokhorov lost his basketball CSKA, but bought the New York Brooklyn Nets
Anton Golubev / REUTERS

After seven years, history repeats itself. Prokhorov is again selling assets and could have bailed out about $ 5.7 billion for them. But there is no more trusting relationship with Putin, his acquaintance is sure. “And seven years ago, they did not perceive him as their own, they always expected some kind of trick. Articles and investigations in RBC only fueled these suspicions, ”says the source of Vedomosti. Some of the most high-profile investigations of RBC were related to the Putin family and the business of his good acquaintances, which could not but affect the attitude of the top officials towards Prokhorov and put his business at risk.

Battle for Lenenergo

Latent conflicts could also affect Prokhorov's business, in which Igor Sechin, chief executive officer of Rosneft, could have been a participant.

In early 2015, the MFC bank, controlled by Prokhorov, Viktor Vekselberg and the family of Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov, volunteered to reorganize the small Tavrichesky bank (St. Petersburg). The bank did not have any special assets, it differed only in that all the free funds of Lenenergo were suspended in it - 16.4 billion rubles. The largest shareholder of Lenenergo is the state company Rosseti, whose general director Oleg Budargin has known Prokhorov for at least 20 years.

In 1995, Oneximbank of Prokhorov and his former partner Vladimir Potanin bought 51% of RAO Norilsk Nickel. Growing up in Norilsk, Budargin by that time had risen to the rank of deputy general director of the Norilsk mining and metallurgical plant - the main asset of the company. In 1996-2001 the general director of Norilsk Nickel was the current Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin - a classmate and old friend Prokhorov. After Prokhorov himself headed Norilsk Nickel in 2001, Budargin and Khloponin went into politics, becoming governors of the Taimyr District and Krasnoyarsk Territory, respectively.

Sechin, who had nothing to do with either this company or Rosseti, unexpectedly showed interest in Lenenergo's debts. According to Kommersant and confirmed by the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, Sechin and the CEO of Inter RAO UES Boris Kovalchuk offered Putin to save Lenenergo at the expense of Rosneftegaz. The rescue scheme looked like this: Rosneftegaz for 30 billion rubles. redeems 36.76% of additional shares of the capital MOESK. At the same time, the share of Rosseti in MOESK is being diluted. MOESK for RUB 30 billion received from Rosneftegaz. acquires additional shares in Lenenergo and instead of Rosseti became its largest shareholder with a 52% stake. With this development of events, Rosseti lost control over its two largest assets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. “The pressure on Rosseti from Sechin was very strong,” recalls a source close to the state-owned company.

Budargin, Prokhorov and the governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko (Putin's colleague in the KGB) managed to defend the assets. To do this, they had to reach Putin, who at a meeting in June 2015 approved their plan - to attract 32 billion rubles. due to the issue of OFZ.

Sechin could harbor a grudge against Prokhorov and Budargin because of the situation with Lenenergo, an acquaintance of the businessman admits with the proviso that he does not know the details of this story.

The former general director of the state-owned company RusHydro Yevgeny Dod found himself in a similar situation.

Having worked for eight years at Inter RAO and six years at RusHydro, Dod was considered Sechin's man. It was Sechin, who headed the board of directors of Inter RAO in 2009, who recommended Dod to the post of head of RusHydro, several people close to Inter RAO told Vedomosti.

Relations between them cooled in 2012, when Dod supported the government and opposed Sechin's proposal to hold an additional issue of RusHydro for 50 billion rubles. in favor of Rosneftegaz. As a result, Sechin's plan failed.

The answer was not long in coming. At the beginning of 2013, at the commission on the fuel and energy complex in Novo-Ogarevo, Putin harassed Doda because of the thefts during the construction of the Zagorskaya PSPP - 2. “So, a billion was stolen from you, a billion, thus, went to dummy offices<…>you do not consider it necessary to protect the interests of the company? " - Putin was excited.

Then everything worked out for Dod. In September 2015, he quietly resigned from RusHydro and moved to work at Prokhorov's Quadra.

Black April 2016

In March 2016, Dod headed the board of directors of Quadra, and a month later an attack began both on the energy company and on Prokhorov's entire business.

On April 11, 2016, on the REN TV channel (one of the largest beneficiaries is the co-owner of the Rossiya bank, Yuri Kovalchuk), a story about Prokhorov was shown. “The offshore company of the oligarch Prokhorov raises prices for housing and communal services. Experts fear that companies registered in offshores will "pull apart the entire energy system" of several regions "piece by piece" - this is the title of the news on the channel's website. The TV report told about complaints from residents of Lipetsk, Voronezh and Kursk against Prokhorov-controlled Quadra, and experts interviewed by REN TV expressed concern that funds received by Quadra could disappear in Prokhorov's offshore accounts.

Three days after this TV report, searches were carried out in Prokhorov's companies. Formally, they were connected with criminal cases against the former management of the Tavrichesky bank, but sources close to RBC and Prokhorov were sure: the case was in the media holding's investigations about Putin's family and his entourage.

The April attack ended with the actual defeat of RBC, from which all key employees were forced to resign or left. And the claim of "Rosneft" for a record 3 billion rubles. due to the article published on April 11, 2015 "Sechin asked the government to protect Rosneft from BP." As a result, the parties agreed on a global settlement - RBC recognized some of the information contained in the article as untrue, and Rosneft withdrew the claim.

The representative of Rosneft did not answer the questions of Vedomosti.

Dod was less fortunate. In June 2016, two weeks after Reuters named the businessman as a potential buyer of Quadra, the ex-head of RusHydro, Dod, was detained on charges of illegally receiving a premium of 73 million rubles. On the same day, searches were also carried out in Quadra, RIA Novosti reported.

Since 2011, Quadra has repeatedly tried to buy Inter RAO, but FAS did not agree to the deal. According to the representative of Inter RAO, Anton Nazarov, now the company does not see the possibility of acquiring Quadra. “This asset does not suit us in several ways, not just in terms of price. The management of “Quadra - Power Generation” and Prokhorov are aware of this, ”says Nazarov.

Call a friend

By the summer of 2016, information appeared that Prokhorov had begun selling off almost all of his Russian business. Sources close to Onexim and the group's partners talked about the banks put up for sale, OPIN, Quadra, blocks of shares in UC Rusal and Uralkali. The reason for the sale was explained by the "urgent recommendation of the Kremlin", but no one could provide confirmation of this. Be that as it may, Prokhorov managed to sell the largest asset in Russia - a stake in Uralkali, OPIN and almost sold his stake in UC Rusal for $ 700 million. By the end of the year, the situation had calmed down, said several acquaintances of Onexim's top managers.

Webster Hall, the largest nightclub in New York, is located in Manhattan. The club sells over 200,000 concert tickets per year. Since 2017, Mikhail Prokhorov has been engaged in the renovation of Webster Hall in partnership with AEG, one of the largest promoters in the world. Webster Hall has always been in the top 5 of the world's best ticket selling clubs, according to industry publication Pollstar. Photo: Webster Hall

Spas Prokhorov last year the head of "Rostec" Chemezov, knows the interlocutor of "Vedomosti" close to the presidential administration. Prokhorov and Chemezov have been friends for a long time, they have a joint business (MFK Bank), a source explains Chemezov's motives.

Earlier, Chemezov himself admitted in an interview with Bloomberg that he has a long-standing good relationship with Prokhorov. In 2014, at the suggestion of Onexim, Chemezov became the chairman of the board of directors of Uralkali.

In the opinion of a friend of Onexim's top managers, his participation in the additional issue of AvtoVAZ could also help restore the authorities' trust in Prokhorov. Chemezov could have asked him about this, the source of Vedomosti believes.

But the sale continued this year. In two stages, 10.3% of UC Rusal was sold for $ 744 million. A buyer was also found at RBC - it was acquired by Grigory Berezkin.

Business for pleasure

The only asset that Potanin did not give to Prokhorov during the division, no matter how he asked, was the CSKA basketball club (owned by Norilsk Nickel). For 10 years, with the support of Prokhorov, CSKA has become one of the strongest basketball clubs in Europe. Much later, Potanin confessed to Sport Express that the club had always been Prokhorov's idea: “I cannot call CSKA my personal project, which arouses great delight in me”.

Instead of the lost CSKA, Prokhorov after his divorce from Potanin at the end of 2009 acquired from the American developer Bruce Ratner 80% in the American basketball team Brooklyn Nets from New York (formerly New Jersey Nets) and 45% in the Barclays Center arena under construction. For Europe, the purchase of football clubs by Arab sheikhs or billionaires from other countries is not news for a long time. And for the United States, the Prokhorov deal was a revelation. Until now, only Americans have owned NBA clubs.

Together with the basketball club, Prokhorov also got an important development project - 45% in the Barclays Center arena under construction in Brooklyn (New York). The construction cost nearly $ 950 million. The home ground for the Brooklyn Nets basketball club and the New York Islanders hockey club has become one of the largest concert venues in the United States. Photo: Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg

“Prokhorov in 2010 really caught fire with a basketball project,” his acquaintance recalls. - It was not only about the club. The club itself was actually bought for $ 1, the rest of the money was the entrance fee to Ratner's development project. " We are talking about the Atlantic Yards project (later renamed Pacific Park Brooklyn), which provides for the construction in the center of New York not only of the huge Barclays Center arena, but also 16 high-rise residential and administrative buildings... The total cost of the project is estimated at $ 4.9 billion. Prokhorov had a 20% option on the entire project, Ratner's Forest City Realty said in a report.

In 2013, 70% in the Pacific Park Brooklyn project (excluding the arena and one already constructed building) was acquired by the Chinese Greenland Holdings Group for $ 208 million. According to a friend of Prokhorov, the third partner appeared by agreement between Prokhorov and Ratner.

In addition to the Barclays Center arena, Prokhorov managed to become an investor in three more sports and entertainment facilities. In 2015, he acquired 85% from Ratner in a renovation project for NYCB LIVE's arena on Long Island. This arena became the home arena for the "junior" basketball team - the Long Island Nets, playing in the NBA G League.

The second arena of Mikhail Prokhorov in New York - Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (NYCB Live) - opened its doors after renovation in April 2017. It became the home ground for the "junior" basketball team - Long Island Nets. NYCB Live is only slightly inferior in size and roominess to Barclays Center. Photo: Bruce Bennett / Getty Images / AFP

In the spring of this year, Prokhorov's assets were replenished with two new venues: one of the most famous former nightclubs in Manhattan - Webster Hall and the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn. After the renovation, the cost of which is estimated at $ 50 million, the Paramount Theater will host concerts, boxing fights and other entertainment events, reported Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment controlled by Prokhorov.

By the summer of 2017, Prokhorov turned out to be one of the largest players in the American market for sports and entertainment complexes. According to the industry publication Pollstar, in the first half of 2017, Barclays Center ranked 9th in the world ranking of arenas in terms of the number of tickets sold for concerts. Opened on April 5, 2017, NYCB LIVE’s arena managed to enter the top 100 in the world in three months. And the Webster Hall club has always been in the top 5 of the world's best ticket sales clubs, Pollstar notes.

The Paramount Theater opened in Brooklyn, New York in 1928, but after being acquired by Long Island University in 1962, the building was converted into a student sports field. In 2015, Mikhail Prokhorov and his partner Bruce Ratner received a 49-year lease on the building. They promise that after a $ 50 million renovation, Paramount will once again become an entertainment destination. It will host concerts, boxing fights and other entertainment events. Photo: Jim Henderson

However, judging by the financial indicators, not everything is so rosy. Brooklyn Arena LLC's revenue in the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016 was only $ 176 million, the loss was $ 30.9 million. True, most of the losses are “paper”, in fact, the arena earned $ 3 million. Basketball club Brooklyn Nets is the first operating profit of $ 15.7 million received only in 2016, wrote Forbes. Prior to that, the club's losses reached $ 90 million a year.

Failed to Prokhorov and quickly bring Brooklyn Nets to the leaders of the NBA, the last two seasons, the club turned out to be the worst in the Eastern Conference.

Nevertheless, Prokhorov is delighted with how the American project is developing, his acquaintance says. With little investment, he has already received assets "worth billions of dollars."

Rumors about Prokhorov's poverty are exaggerated

How much Prokhorov could have spent on building the arena and supporting his basketball team is not known. The big expense was not mentioned until 2014, when Brooklyn Nets had to pay an additional $ 90 million in luxury tax to the NBA due to the overrun of the salaries of the Brooklyn Nets players. According to Vedomosti's calculations, based on reports from Brooklyn Arena LLC and company reports, Prokhorov could have paid $ 510.7 million for 100% of Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center (of which $ 217.7 million in promissory notes). The reconstruction of NYCB LIVE’s cost Prokhorov and Ratner another $ 165 million.

For Prokhorov, this amount could be very serious. Previously, the cash flow was provided by Norilsk Nickel or Uralkali. With their sale, the businessman also lost a source of funds for investment in other projects. Prokhorov's acquaintance just connects the sale of assets with a lack of available funds and the need to service current loans. The same "Quadra" is now pledged to Sberbank and Gazprombank, since the spring of 2017, the bank "Renaissance Credit" was pledged by Alfa-Bank.

Representatives of VTB and Sberbank declined to comment. A source close to Gazprombank assures that "rumors about Prokhorov's poverty are greatly exaggerated." It is impossible to say that Prokhorov has problems with money, agrees one of the businessmen who worked with him. He just does not have new large projects in Russia, but not many of them have them now, continues the source of Vedomosti. But Prokhorov is very passionate about his project in the United States - both the development and sports parts. He develops it in a smart way, is well versed and, most importantly, he really likes it, the businessman concludes.

Rinat Sagdiev, Alexandra Terentyeva, Svetlana Bocharova, Elena Vinogradova, Ivan Vasiliev

Russian manufacturer of LED lighting "Optogan", actively developing with the support of the state, went to create a joint venture with the Dutch company Philips, giving it 51% of the joint venture

An unprecedented event. We are already used to the fact that dynamically growing Russian companies with good market potential are being sold to their foreign competitors. However, for the first time, an innovative company is losing market positions, the creation of which in Russia was patronized and partially financed by the state (in particular, in the person of Rusnano). It turns out that the conditions for the introduction of foreign players into the market are created with the money of our taxpayers. We haven't had anything like this yet.

However, formally "Optogan", as they say, is clean. The shares of the company itself were not sold, they are still in the hands of Russian shareholders (Onexim, Rusnano and the Republican Investment Company). The joint venture established with the Dutch Philips will not own the production facilities of Optogan either; it will lease them. And the amount of investment in this joint venture seems to be small, 2.5 million euros from each of the partners, it would seem, what to worry about. However, behind the streamlined wording lies, in fact, Optogan's concession of its business to Philips.

Judge for yourself. Already this year, the joint venture promises to produce 6,000 road lamps a month, and by 2015 it is planned to increase the volume to 100,000 units of LED products a year.

Meanwhile, today the capacity of the main (and the only one in Russia) plant "Optogan" is 30 million LEDs per year per year. Of these, one half is sold on the market, and the other is used for the production of lighting fixtures. In this case, a new joint venture means a doubling of the production of final products. But Optogan with its 49% actually does not control the joint venture, whose products will be manufactured under the Philips brand (although Optogan insists that the joint venture's products will be produced under the Philips-Optogan brand). It looks more like not the development of Optogan's business, but the provision of services for the elegant introduction of Philips products to the Russian market, which gives rise to numerous questions. The main one is this: does this “marriage” to the Dutch “bride” give some fabulous dowry to the Russian “groom”?

Technology under one roof

Optogan itself does not believe that they are being sold to competitors. Executive Vice President of the company AlexeyLadle claims that the financial participation of partners in the project is equal, and the real contribution of the Russian side is greater than that of the Dutch. But why, then, 51% of the joint venture goes to the Dutch? It is officially stated that the whole thing is in the transfer of technologies. It is technology that is the rich dowry that the Dutch company will bring.

Indeed, Philips, one of the largest players in the global lighting market, has extensive experience in this industry, and the Dutch have a number of cutting edge technologies at their disposal. According to the President of Optogan MaximaOdnoblyudova, “To create a product that can satisfy customers, strengthen the company and its capitalization, it is necessary to concentrate as many competencies as possible in one structure”. A lot of competences have been collected under the roof of Optogan. Here, according to the company, the entire production cycle of LED lamps is concentrated, only raw materials are purchased from third-party suppliers, which LED manufacturers, in principle, do not deal with. These are, for example, gases (in particular, ammonia) and sapphire substrates. Philips, on the other hand, has some technological solutions that, according to Optogan, could make the products of the Russian manufacturer more competitive.

Aleksey Kovsh says that “Philips has brought to the project its portfolio of outdoor LED street and road luminaires, as well as its technological expertise, based on a long and extensive experience in creating technically sophisticated luminaires with the best performance in the world.” With a fairly high price, relative to a conventional incandescent light bulb, and fierce competition in the market, the quality of LEDs can be a decisive advantage.

Another technological advantage that Philips will bring to the project, as Aleksey Kovsh explained to Expert, is intelligent light control systems: motion sensors are installed on lamp posts, which communicate with an automated control center. The system turns off the light when there is no special need for it, that is, there is no movement, and turns it on in the area where the sensors have reacted to the activity. Such a system can increase the cost of the final product by 10-15%, but it will save up to 30-40% of electricity on lighting streets and highways. Taking into account the long service life of the luminaires, the system pays off handsomely. In principle, as Alexey Kovsh notes, this technology is not unique - a number of companies around the world are engaged in similar developments. However, Philips has achieved the greatest success in this field.

Competitors don't believe

Russian players in the LED market believe, however, that the matter is not in technology: in their opinion, it is about the banal involvement of a partner by Optogan to promote products under the Philips brand. And they point out that Optogan has been working on the domestic lighting market for two years (the plant near St. Petersburg was opened in 2010), but could not achieve much success, having won only a tenth of the market. The market players are inclined to interpret the new stage of the company's development as the deployment at the site near St. Petersburg of the Philips screwdriver assembly of ready-made solutions from imported components. Thus, it is expected that Optogan will buy components from the American Cree or Semiled (they are also called among the current suppliers of the Russian company), bring them to the joint venture plant, where they will be packaged in accordance with the requirements of Philips designers. And then these packaged LEDs will be integrated there, in St. Petersburg, into finished lamps, which will also be imported, from Philips factories. In this model, the added value created by the joint venture will be minimal.

Maxim Odnoblyudov from Optogan admits that at first the products will indeed be assembled using imported components, but within six months he promises to carry out 100% localization in Russia, including chips. So far, by the way, Optogan produces chips for LEDs in Germany, citing the lack of ammonia of the required purity in the country.

The negative for Optogan assessment of its agreements with Philips could be attributed to the intrigues of competitors, if not for one circumstance. The Dutch concern is not particularly hiding that it is using the Optogan site to conquer the Russian market. CEO Philips in Russia and the CIS Arjan de Jongste claims that the creation of this joint venture fits into the company's global strategy. In his opinion, with the huge scale of use of electric lighting in a country like Russia, the share of LEDs by 2015 should reach 50%, and Philips, of course, hopes to take key positions in this market. “The creation of a joint venture with Optogan ... will be the first step towards our ambitious goal of becoming a key player in the Russian street lighting market,” says Arjan de Jongste bluntly. “We are confident that cooperation with Optogan will enable us to bring innovative lighting solutions to Russia: they will help conserve energy, reduce maintenance costs and improve road safety. These solutions are designed to make people's lives better. "

Philips' desire is understandable, but the problem for the Dutch company was that the outdoor lighting market in Russia is mostly controlled by companies that are somehow connected with the state. Which, of course, does not give the Dutch direct access to our market, since they want to see domestic products here. Accordingly, it was important for Philips to find such a Russian manufacturer, under whose roof it would be possible to enter the promising Russian market without any problems, but not much favoring foreigners.

Maxim Odnoblyudov claims that in fact Optogan has been cooperating with Philips since the beginning of this year. Samples of products have already been produced, which have received accreditation in a number of organizations "Gorsvet" (potential consumers of products), in particular, in Moscow, St. Petersburg and some cities of Tatarstan.

Who is protecting whom

Why did the Dutch choose Optogan, because there are companies on the Russian market of LED products that are both larger and no less technologically advanced?

Maxim Odnoblyudov assures that the matter is in the exceptional attractiveness of his company: “Optogan is one of the technological leaders in the production of super-bright LEDs. Through the use of advanced and energy efficient solutions in the production of high brightness chips, LEDs, LED lamps and intelligent lighting systems, we are able to offer the market products with the best price-performance ratio. We thoroughly understand all the features and requirements of the Russian market. And together with Philips we are creating a company that will offer our customers solutions that have no analogues in Russia. "

We are talking, apparently, about the X10 LEDs being developed by Optogan, which exceed almost all Western analogues in terms of brightness per square centimeter. This, in turn, also allows you to significantly save on energy consumption - after all, you can use luminaires of lower power, providing the same brightness of illumination. It is likely that Philips was seduced by the presence of its own innovative products in Optogan.

But first of all, the matter, apparently, is still in the cover that Philips can organize "Optogan" - and here it has no equal - for a global invasion of the Russian market.

Our LED road lighting market is one of the most attractive and dynamic. It is projected that by 2015 its capacity will double to 100 million euros. To a large extent, this growth is a consequence of the implementation of the state program for the modernization of road lighting. There is nothing unusual about state support for advanced industries. A similar practice exists in the West. Aryan de Jongste also speaks about the need for state support for the development of LED lighting. However, in Russia this support has acquired an interesting specificity.

The largest player in the LED lighting market was Rusnano. It does not have its own production, but it has the ability to pay and the ability to promote the sale of products. Rusnano makes no secret of the fact that they are helping Russian enterprises engaged in the production of LED lamps. For example, on the initiative of Rusnano, an adjustment was made to 25 SanPiNs and SNiPs, which previously did not allow the use of LED lighting. Work is underway to create 12 specialized nanocenters in the country. And the head of Rusnano AnatolyChubais At the ceremony of signing the agreement on the establishment of the Optogan and Philips joint venture, he was even more frank and bluntly stated that it was Optogan that had been given especially serious support: “The company was created by Anatoly Chubais, Mikhail Prokhorov, Maxim Odnoblyudov and Alexei Kovsh ... All functions of the“ godfather ” , starting from creation and up to “protection”, were at “Rusnano” ”.

Towards a brighter future

Alexey Kovsh believes that the joint venture will be able to occupy up to 30% of the Russian outdoor lighting market and become a leader. The forecast is quite realistic, given the technological potential of Philips and the sales and lobbying potential of Rusnano.

What will this give the Russian market?

Switching to LED-based road and street lighting can reduce energy consumption by up to 80% and optimize equipment operating costs. According to Philips forecasts, by 2020 the share of LED lighting in developed countries will be 75%. But Russia is still far from such values. We have a bad situation with components that are usually imported. It is estimated that the “big four” of exporters dominate - American Cree, Japanese Nichia, Dutch Philips and German Osram - producing up to 70% of all components (most of the rest, apparently, is made in China).

Maxim Odnoblyudov promises to organize the production of components in Russia, but only when the production of raw materials for their manufacture is established here. The last task promises to be solved by Rusnano, which, among other things, is working on the deployment of pure ammonia production in the country.

On the other hand, it may well turn out that the goal of creating a joint venture between Optogan and Philips - to become a platform for Dutch penetration into the Russian market - is only short-term. As Aleksey Kovsh told the Expert, after the successful localization of Philips technological solutions in Russia, Optogan plans to enter the market with its new development, X10 LEDs, which will be used to complete Philips finished products. Thus, in the medium term, this joint venture can become a center for mass sales of innovatively intensive Optogan products through promoted channels and brands.

ps Even successful projects go sideways for Russia. Is this our upgrade?