MOSCOW, RUSSIA — Fesco, one of the leading public transportation and logistics companies in Russia with operations in ports, rail, integrated logistics and shipping business, is in talks to sell its grain transportation business to Rustranscom, according to Reuters. Rustranscom is controlled by VTB Bank, which is an international financial group that provides a wide range of financial and banking services in Russia, the CIS countries, Western Europe, Asia and Africa.
“We are in talks to exit the grain business,” Alexsandr Isurin, head of Fesco, told reporters. “We have discussed the price but cannot disclose it.”
If VTB were to acquire Fesco’s grain rail-wagon business, it would continue the company’s move to become a vertically integrated player in the grain market. In September, Reuters reported that VTB was planning to enter grain markets in Africa, the Middle East and Asia to increase Russian grain exports. Earlier, VTB acquired Russian grain trader Mirogroup, the fourth largest grain exporter from Russia’s deep port waters of the Black and Azov Seas.
