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Impossible is nothing. VTB Bank provides a $7 million loan to Lanta

08:07, 9 февраля 2012

This is probably not the most pretentious loan agreement VTB has ever signed, but for the travel market this is an unprecedented event. A dozen cameras, all the information agencies and all the leading press. Several things spice up the situation: it is a state bank; one of its signatories has a criminal case filed against him on the charges of fraud related to the business failure of the company; and it’s only been a day since Vladimir Putin asked the minister of sport, tourism and youth politics Vitaly Mutko, to “assist” the situation (that happened on January 31). Today the foreign counterparts should receive the money sent by VTB, at the same time they will be sent copies of bank orders. The minister almost made it in time, which was given to him by the head of the government to get the situation under control.

 

In the end, tourists who are being tortured by hotels and resorts far from home don’t really care whether it’s an election campaign move of the PM or not. They needed help fast. And they got it.

 

Ludmila Puchkova, head of Lanta-tour Voyage, met with a representative from VTB at Vitaly Mutko’s office on February 1 at noon. The meeting was also attended by deputy minister Nadezhda Nazina, head of Rostourism Alexander Radkov, President of the Russian Union of Travel Industry Sergey Shpilko, press-secretary of RUTI Irina Tyurina, Association of Tour Operators of Russia executive manager Maya Lomidze, VTB vice-president Chaba Zenati, deputy general manager of Ingosstrah Ilya Solomatin. Two speakers from field associations attending the meeting can be explained by the fact that the minister thought it would be good to “synchronize watches” before covering this unprecedented event in the media.

 

Around 13:00 Ludmila Puchkova left the minister’s office to get the books and define the exact total debt to foreign hotels. Note that during that time representatives of the Main Investigation Directorate of the Moscow Investigation Committee were seizing the Lanta-tour documentation. Yet at 20:00 that day the loan agreement was readied and signed.

 

Andrey Kostin, head of VTB, announced yesterday that Lanta-tour received a loan of $7 million with 12% interest rate for 5 years. Personal sureties were taken as pledges from company holders – Ludmila and Igor Puchkov – without monetary deposit. Also Mr. Kostin said that the bank is planning to work with Lanta-tour in the future instead of just making this a single deal.

 

Ludmila Puchkova thanked the bank, the ministry and Rostourism for their assistance. She didn’t speak much and seemed a little shaken, but managed to hold the pressure of a dozen cameras aimed at her. She did not start placing the blame, grumbling about competition and overestimating her powers in this situation. On the contrary, she said that the last four days were like “an action movie” for her, and that the road to rebuilding the company’s image and returning the clients’ trust “will be tough”. “We’ll need at least three months to return the company to working order”, - said Ludmila Puchkova. She presumes that in order to maximize the synergy effect, there might be some merging with other operators; also she anticipates the appearance of a strategic partner. And she hopes to save the 20-year old Lanta brand.

 

Answering the journalists’ questions, Ludmila Puchkova said that the overall company debt was about $20 million, mostly to foreign partners and air carriers. In particular – 63 million roubles to Aeroflot, as the Lanta representatives said themselves, and 30 million roubles to Transaero, according to Vedomosti newspaper reports. The reason for this failure, as she said, is the global dumping on the travel market, which makes tour operators pay for hotels and flights out of their operating assets.

 

According to latest information, the registry of sold tours that Lanta handed over to Ingosstrah, numbers 2445 people. Note that earlier there were talks about 1000 people, who would not be able to use their tours. Nadezhda Nazina said to the press yesterday that the total cost of claims is 101 million roubles – not counting the personal claims from tourists, who had to pay twice for their accommodation. It’s still unclear if all the suffering tourists will have the proper paperwork to back their claims. But if Lanta’s insurance (100 million roubles) will not cover everything, Ingosstrah will divide the sum proportionally among the claimers, assured Ilya Solomatin, the company’s vice?president.

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