MINSK, 13 February (BelTA) – A foreign company can be hired as an asset manager, but it should be a Belarusian resident, Andrei Gayev, Chairman of Belarus' State Property Committee, said in an interview with Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA has learned.
When asked whether a foreign company can be hired as an asset manager for a Belarusian company, Andrei Gayev underlined that it should be registered in Belarus. “Even if it is a company with 100% foreign capital, it must be a Belarusian resident,” he said.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has recently issued an instruction to settle issues regarding the provision of asset management services to unitary companies. Andrei Gayev said that this mechanism will work as follows: a manager will receive the asset portfolio, ensure its operation and development and return it to the owner in 5 years at most in a better condition. Work is underway to develop a protection principle to make sure that the manager has no opportunity to seize the assets of an enterprise. “In the first place, we provide a transparent mechanism of transfer of an enterprise into asset management on a competitive basis. Secondly, each step of the asset manager's work will be controlled by the public authority which signs the asset management contract. If such contract includes a buyout clause (in respect of an agricultural organization), this enterprise will be thoroughly examined by law-enforcement agencies and the deal will be agreed on with the head of state,” Andrei Gayev said.
Theoretically, this mechanism can be applied in respect of more than 2,000 enterprises from different industries, the property of which is in the national or municipal ownership.
The Chairman of the Belarusian State Property Committee noted that this mechanism is one of the ways to make enterprises more efficient. The point is that the enterprise is managed by a legal entity for a certain period. “A legal entity that is hired to manage an asset portfolio gets an opportunity to increase its output using the production facilities of the latter. The enterprise retains the debts if there are any. Meanwhile, the enterprise gets an opportunity to use the feedstock, materials and the dealer network of the legal entity which is hired as an asset manager,” Andrei Gayev said. This will generate positive economic and social effect for both companies. The asset manager undertakes to set the enterprise back onto a profitable path. Based on the outcome of asset management, the possibility of acquisition can be considered.
