By Elena Fabrichnaya
MOSCOW, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Samolet, Russia's largest homebuilder, is likely to be the first major company to restructure its debt under a new law designed to help debtors avoid bankruptcy, an executive at state lender VTB said on Friday.
«We believe that the Samolet case will be the first major, and possibly the very first, case in which a comprehensive financial recovery agreement will be used under new insolvency and bankruptcy legislation,» said VTB Chief Financial Officer Dmitry Pyanov.
The legislation, which is expected to take effect in 2027, allows a debtor to agree a rehabilitation plan with one or more creditors to avoid formal bankruptcy proceedings. Using it would indicate that Samolet's financial problems, already the subject of coordinated talks among its major creditors, are serious enough to require a formal process to keep the company operating, as the once-thriving construction sector struggles with high borrowing costs and ebbing demand.
Samolet declined to comment.
VTB's Pyanov said the lender was Samolet's second-largest creditor with substantially lower exposure than the main creditor Sberbank, whose position it would follow in the restructuring. VTB has sufficient reserves against its exposure, he added.
«The method of financial rehabilitation for this organisation will consist of finding comfortable timeframes and restructuring periods for the existing debt, rather than converting it into shares,» he said, explaining that new banking regulations would discourage lenders from such investments.
Sberbank has previously said that it was developing a debt-restructuring plan for the developer with other banks.
Samolet was a key player in a wartime construction boom, which peaked in 2023 and then gradually lost steam as a broader economic slowdown left debt-laden developers struggling to complete projects amid record labour shortages and high interest rates.
The company initially sought government support to ease its debt burden, but in February said it had agreed a refinancing programme with commercial banks instead. Its corporate debt stood at 112.7 billion roubles ($1.4 billion) as of end-June, when it posted a first-half loss that it blamed in part on weaker demand.
Adding to its 2026 woes, the European Union added Samolet to its sanctions list for allegedly hiring North Korean workers. It declined to comment on the allegation.
Samolet is not the only construction firm facing debt challenges. An October analysis by Russian ratings agency NCR of 12 leading developers found that their interest expenses rose 30% in the 12 months to June, while their combined net profit fell 90%.
($1 = 80.5793 roubles)
(Writing by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Xevi Fontdegloria)
