Operator structure changed
Putin forces Fraport out of Pulkovo airport in Russia
December 1, 2023, 11:07 a.m
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Fraport holds 25 percent of a Russian operating company that looks after Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. The value is more than 100 million euros. After the start of the war, the German company suspended its activities and Putin now made short work of it by decree.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a new operating structure for Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg, thereby forcing major German shareholder Fraport out of business. Fraport had held 25 percent of the previous operating company. Putin justified the move with “unfriendly actions of some foreign states and international organizations,” according to his decree.
After the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Western companies withdrew en masse from the giant empire’s market. Many areas of the Russian economy are subject to Western sanctions in the wake of the war. In recent months, Putin has repeatedly ordered compulsory administration in order to secure the operation of plants and companies as well as jobs.
The new measures on Pulkovo International Airport are being taken in “the context of the threat to the national interests and economic security of the Russian Federation,” it said. Accordingly, 100 percent of the shares of the Northern Capital Gateway (NCG) consortium, which operates in Cyprus through the company Thalita Trading Ltd. registered, will be transferred to a new holding company established by the Russian government. The Russian shareholders retained their rights, the foreign investors did not.
After the start of the war, Fraport declared its intention to exit operations at the airport. According to Fraport, the participation in St. Petersburg was “suspended”. In September, the head of the Russian bank VTB, Andrei Kostin, said that the parameters of Fraport’s exit should be determined by the end of this year. He stated the value of the Fraport share at 111 million euros. In total, the previous holding NCG, which received a 30-year contract to operate Pulkovo Airport in 2010, included 13 different companies.