The Russian Highways State Company held an annual investor meeting in the format of business breakfast. The event was attended by representatives of the Office of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Transport of Russia, the Ministry of Finance of Russia, the Bank of Russia, credit organizations, development institutions, management, brokerage and investment companies and rating agencies - a total of more than 100 participants.
The business breakfast was addressed by Valentin Ivanov, First Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia, Vyacheslav Petushenko, Chair of the Management Board of the Russian Highways State Company, Sergei Pernikov, First Deputy Chair of the Management Board for Economics, Finance and Strategy, and members of the banking community. They outlined the major accomplishments of the Russian Highways State Company, ongoing and planned projects, strategic changes in operations, and the company's development prospects.
Valentin Ivanov, First Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia, emphasized the significance of Russian Highways' contribution to the implementation of large-scale projects to develop the high-speed road system and, on behalf of the Ministry of Transport of Russia, supported the activities of the state company, noting the synchronization of Russian Highways' strategy with the Transport Strategy of the Russian Federation. "Speed, seamless traffic and safety are the principal benefits of the Russian Highways' roads. Along with the state company and the Federal Road Agency, we will extend the length of high-speed roads. The infrastructure across the State Company's highways enables us to actively develop unmanned transportation, ensuring Russia's place among the world leaders in this industry," remarked Valentin Ivanov.
In his welcoming address, Vyacheslav Petushenko, Chair of the Board of the Russian Highways State Company, noted the unparalleled competencies of the "Russian Highways" State Company in the area of infrastructure projects. "In just 16 years, we've grown into Russia's leading toll road operator and secured more than one trillion rubles in private funding for our infrastructure projects. By 2036, in accordance with the Company's Development Strategy, the length of roads under our trust management will amount to about 7 thousand kilometers, of which 5.4 thousand kilometers will be expressways. About 60% of the country's residents will have access to the high-speed road system, and the increase in tax deductions and contribution to GDP will rocket up by 3 times," emphasized Vyacheslav Petushenko. "Pursuant to the instruction of the Chair of the Government of the Russian Federation M.V. Mishustin and following the results of the Strategic Session on the development of high-speed communication, along with the Ministry of Transport of Russia and the Federal Road Agency we are working out the priority and stages of developing highways and expressways until 2050".
The Head of the Russian Highways made a special emphasis on the fact that high-speed traffic is currently provided within the most popular North-South and West-East transport corridors, uniting St. Petersburg, Moscow with the Urals and the South of Russia. The development of seamless expressway corridors has cut journey times for road users by over 50%.
Using the example of the launched high-speed corridor from St. Petersburg to Kazan as part of the "Rossiya" transportation route, Vyacheslav Petushenko stressed the tangible effect: the total savings for shippers for 1.7 thousand kilometers of travel is 8.5 thousand rubles (for unmanned trucks it makes up around 22 thousand rubles), and travel time has been decreased by 40%. The Russian Highways' long-term plans include consistent development of the high-speed route "Rossiya" to Vladivostok with access to the borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China.
The Chair of the Board emphasized that the high-speed corridor has made road travel affordable for the country's residents by increasing average speed, comfort and quality of service. Not only large centers such as St. Petersburg or Kazan, but also small tourist cities received an additional inflow of tourists. A multiple growth of motor tourists in certain destinations was noted: compared to 2018, the flow of tourists to Zavidovo increased thrice, 2.5 times, to Valdai, almost 2 times more tourists visited Arzamas, while tourist influx to Suzdal increased by 30%. Last year, 89 million people used the express corridor.
The Head of Russian Highways also stated that the company is currently making a strategic transition to a competency center model for developing regional and federal turnpikes, including through public-private partnership (PPP) tools, which will expand the project portfolio and enable more active participation in implementing regional initiatives.
In his speech, First Deputy Chair of the Board for Economics, Finance and Strategy Sergei Pernikov informed members of the investment community on the State Company's key performance indicators until 2030, the Russian Highways' ongoing and prospective projects, and highlighted this year's accomplishments and objectives.
Thus, this year, the construction of the M-12 "Vostok" expressway on the Dyurtyuli - Achit section spanning over 275 km has been completed, the construction of an interchange down the M-11 "Neva" expressway has been finished, the commissioning of an interchange down the M-1 "Belarus" highway is slated by the end of the year, the launch into toll operation of the TsKAD (Malyye Vyazemy) and M-12 "Vostok" (Dyurtyuli - Achit) sections has been carried out, and the company also plans to open traffic ahead of schedule on a 33 km section of the M-3.
Sergei Pernikov emphasized that the company has been demonstrating positive trends of toll revenues for many years, which is due to flexible tariff policy, commissioning of new roads and increasing their attractiveness for users. By 2030, the company expects an almost twofold increase in revenues compared to the 2025 target.
He remarked that the implementation of promising projects will, as before, be carried out with the involvement of extra-budgetary financing - both debt and investor funds. Part of the volume of new borrowings and investors' funds is included in the draft Program of Activities until 2030, additional investment volume will be reflected in the Program as the financial structuring of projects is completed. To date, bond issuances totaling approximately 100 billion rubles have already been planned until 2030, along with the attraction of 90 billion in investor funds.
Sergei Pernikov noted that given the current portfolio of liabilities and plans for further investment attraction, the Russian Highways State Company remains a reliable borrower. The State Company maintains a healthy debt profile: the company's debt is traditionally predominantly long-term, and the average interest rate on the debt is low – few large corporations have a weighted average cost of debt below 6.5% – therefore, even in a high-interest-rate economic environment, Russian Highways can continue to pursue a flexible debt policy in order to fulfill all its assigned tasks and maintain control over its debt burden
Sergei Pernikov noted that the stable financial stability indicators and high credit rating of the State Company ensure a proper level of confidence on the part of the investment community, and high quality standards of infrastructure services on the part of road users.
During the discussion, the business breakfast participants asked questions regarding the State Company's current operations, its tariff policy and financial statements, further plans to attract debt financing and investor funds, and brought up aspects of motorway construction and related infrastructure.
According to representatives of the investment community, the Russian Highways State Company is a reliable borrower, it implements a balanced debt strategy, works effectively with the market and successfully passes the period of high market interest rates.
Following the event, Vyacheslav Petushenko stressed that regular dialog with investors remains the company's priority in order to maintain a high degree of transparency of the company's operations and boost investor confidence, as well as to obtain valuable feedback from local capital market participants.
