TogliattiAzot

Owners and Management

The main owners of the company: management led by President Vladimir Makhlai - more than 76%, other individuals - citizens of Russia - 15%, Uralchem - 9.73%.

For almost a decade and a half, the corporation was led by President and Chairman of the Board of Directors Vladimir Makhlai. In March 2011, at the next annual general meeting of shareholders, his son Sergey Makhlai was elected chairman of the board of directors.

In May 2011, the position of president was abolished, Evgeny Korolyov, who previously held the executive director's office, was appointed general director.

Activity

The company produces ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbamide, basalt fiber, methanol, reaction pipes for the chemical industry, etc. The production of building materials is also well developed: bricks, ceramic tiles, etc. The total volume of wall materials produced by the enterprise is 32.1% of the total production of this kind in Togliatti.

The main investment project of Togliattiazot is the construction of a terminal for the shipment of ammonia in the port of Taman on Cape Zhelezny Rog (near the village of Volna, not far from the village of Taman, Krasnodar Territory). Due to a conflict with local authorities, ToAZ has been delaying the commissioning of the first stage of the port for several years (as of spring 2011).

Performance indicators

The output of Togliattiazot products in 2010 increased by 39.6% compared to the previous one. Ammonia production amounted to 2.13 million tons, urea - 643.7 thousand tons, methanol - 366 thousand tons.

As of 2007, Togliattiazot occupied approximately 20% of the Russian ammonia market and 7.6% of the world. In the Russian mineral fertilizer market, the company's share was 19%, while the volume of exports in the company's supplies was 85%.

Subsidiaries

The structure of the corporation includes two banks - CJSC AKB Togliattikhimbank and CJSC AKB RTS-Bank, as well as enterprises of OJSC Azotremmash, OJSC Volgotsemmash, OJSC Transammiak.

History

2024: Sentence - 13 years in prison for fraud

The Komsomolsky District Court of Togliatti sentenced Dmitry Mezheedov, ex-head of the former management company (UK) of Togliattiazot, and three representatives of the management of partner enterprises of the Criminal Code, in a criminal case. Mezhedov received 13 years in prison and 1.8 million rubles. fine. According to the investigation, in 2013-2019 Dmitry Mezheedov and his partners entered into fictitious contracts for the construction of facilities and the provision of consulting services for TOAZ. Read more here.

2023

Plan for the construction of a new terminal for ammonia transshipment in the port of Taman instead of Odessa

Ammonia supplies through the existing pipeline Togliatti Odessa were stopped with the outbreak of the conflict on To Ukraine 2022. The ammonia pipeline with a capacity of about 2.5 million tons per year was operated by the Russian fertilizer company Togliattiazot.

Rumors have repeatedly arisen about the resumption of the operation of the ammonia pipeline and behind-the-scenes agreements with the Ukrainian side. Be that as it may, in March 2023 the government of the Russian Federation decided to put an end to this issue: the construction of a new terminal in Taman begins, and by the end of 2023 there will be no point in the Odessa terminal.

What is ammonia used for?

Anhydrous ammonia, which is a colorless gas, is widely used in the production of fertilizers and chemicals. Ammonia is transported at high pressure and at low temperatures to maintain its liquid state.

With the termination of the ammonia pipeline, Russian companies incurred significant costs on the global market.

What will the new terminal be like?

The Russian government has approved the construction of a complex for transshipment of ammonia and mineral fertilizers in the sea port of Taman. The project will be implemented by Togliattiazot OJSC, which is part of UralChem, and will take 10 hectares in the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar Territory. The resolution of land issues will begin in March 2023.

The transshipment complex with a capacity of 5 million tons per year will be implemented in two stages. The first stage provides for the transshipment of 2 million tons of ammonia. Rail transportation to the terminal will begin in December 2023. The second stage, which includes the transshipment of another 1.5 million tons of ammonia and 1.5 million tons of urea, will begin in December 2025.

What will the construction of a new terminal give?

The implementation of this project will reduce the dependence of Russian ammonia exports on transshipment ports of other countries and, above all, on the port of Odessa. An alternative ammonia supply route will appear.

After the launch of the second stage, the new terminal will ship finished fertilizers - urea (urea) in the amount of 1.5 million tons out of 5 million in total capacity. The issue of the production and sale of the finished product has already been considered by our colleagues. Earlier, when supplying ammonia to the Odessa Port Plant (OPZ), urea was produced there. Profits from its sale also remained with Ukrainian manufacturers.

Ammonia volumes, twice the throughput capacity of the ammonia pipeline, will be supplied in tanks by rail from Togliatti. The main markets for ammonia are Turkey, India and Brazil.

New Terminal Investment Prospects

Since the construction of a new pipeline line requires large investments, a more profitable decision was made to build a terminal. For comparison, the ammonia pipeline was built from 1970 to 1974 and its estimated cost was hundreds of millions of dollars. Ammonia supplies by rail will primarily buy time and reduce the necessary investments to a minimum.

Now there is a shortage of energy and food on the world market. With an average production cost of $295 per ton, the sale price of ammonia is now about $400-500. The cost of building the terminal will be about $650 million. Even with a shipping price of $450, the project will be able to recoup costs for the first two years of operation. Further, profit can be up to $1 billion per year, depending on the market situation.

At the end of 2021, a ton of ammonia cost $990-1030, urea - $850-930. This was due to the rise in gas prices. Similar volatility in the context of the shutdown of a number of fertilizer production in Europe may signal a shortage of product, which makes ammonia exports very promising.

Ammonia can be used both for the production of fertilizers and hydrogen - and this is further advisable to localize near the new terminal. Thus, it will be possible to export not only raw materials, but also clean energy, which is in great demand around the world.

Togliattiazot became the new owner of Togliattikhimbank

In January 2023, Togliattiazot (100%) Dmitry Mazepin became the new owner of Togliattikhimbank. Previously, the bank was owned by Sergei Makhlai, but in 2022 he was convicted of embezzlement of 85 billion rubles at the suit of a minority shareholder of the Uralchem plant (owned by Dmitry Mazepin). Makhlai was abroad at the time of the investigation.

2022: Khimaktivinvest bought 38.74% of Togliattiazot for 31.55 billion rubles

On February 8, 2022, an auction was held for the purchase of Togliattiazot (ToAZ). The winner of the auction was the company "Himaktivinvest," affiliated with "Uralchem" Dmitry Mazepin. She will pay for 38.74% of the shares of one of the largest ammonia producers in Russia 31.55 billion rubles at a starting price of 31.17 billion rubles.

According to Vedomosti, ToAZ shares owned by Instantania Holdings and Kamara Ltd. were put up for auction, the beneficiary of which is the former chairman of the board of directors, founder of Togliattiazot Sergey Makhlai.

Khimaktivinvest bought 38.74% of Togliattiazot (ToAZ)

Bidding for the sale of another 32% of Togliattiazot's ordinary shares is scheduled for February 17, 2022, the starting price is 25, 665,864 billion rubles.

A controlling stake in Togliattiazot is being sold after its former owner Sergei Makhlai was declared bankrupt as a result of a years-long legal battle. The criminal case against the ex-leaders of ToAZ and their business partners has been going on for almost 10 years. Makhlaya, along with other former TOAZ leaders, was found guilty of embezzling more than 80 billion rubles from the plant. In 2019, they were sentenced in absentia to imprisonment and ordered to pay part of the damage to OKHK Uralchem JSC. All persons involved in the case by February 2022 are not in Russia.

At the end of November 2021, Uralchem at an extraordinary meeting of Togliattiazot shareholders gained control over the company's board of directors and changed its head to its representative. Uralchem is a minority shareholder of Togliattiazot with a 9.97% stake.

By February 2022, Uralchem has facilities for the production of more than 3 million tons of ammonia, 3 million tons of ammonium nitrate, 1.2 million tons of urea and 1 million tons of phosphorus and complex fertilizers per year. Uralchem also controls Uralkali, which produces potash fertilizers.^[1]

2021: Change of Board Chairman and CEO

In November 2021, Dimitri Tatyanin, Legal Director of Uralchem, was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Togliattiazot.

Anatoly Shablinsky, who previously headed the Kirov-Chepetsk Chemical Plant of Uralchem, has been appointed General Director of PJSC Togliattiazot.

1985: Vladimir Makhlai heads the enterprise

In 1985, in the direction of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the government, Togliattiazot was headed by Vladimir Nikolaevich Makhlai, who by that time had achieved serious success at the Gubakha Chemical Plant. ToAZ, which was in a serious fever, was a disappointing sight by the arrival of the new CEO. The units stood naked, simply surrounded by a leaky fence. Five years after launch, and of the six ammonia units, only two worked, and they were constantly repaired. One accident after another! Boilers burned because ordinary river water was used instead of demineralized water. It came to the fact that once the flywheel of a half-ton turbine flew through the wall - miraculously no one died. There was no repair base. The aggregates were constantly "limping," the plan was chronically not implemented. I constantly had to stop the units. At all levels of Soviet and party power, this enterprise was "kicked" and "shoved." In the social direction, almost nothing was done, there was no dispensary, no pioneer camp, nothing was the only kindergarten.

For a short period, V.N. Makhlai and his new team of professionals, having carried out great reform work in all areas of the plant's activity, brought ToAZ out of a breakthrough and turned it into an enterprise with solid potential. The huge amount of work that had to be done is evidenced by such a detail - about three hundred serious design errors were corrected. The efforts were not in vain - ToAZ began to gain movement, people studied, technologies were worked out and the plant broke through to world markets and leading positions. Discipline and order organically fit into the Toaz style of work.

The new general director understood the importance of the social sphere, he knocked out housing for Togliattiazot employees from the city, and about two years later all those in need were provided with small families. Additional kindergartens were built. There was its own pioneer camp "Rainbow," which, by the way, would never have been built so quickly if not for the personal participation of Makhlai (I went five times a week for a hundred kilometers to hold meetings there). And gradually, in the city and the region, the attitude towards ToAZ began to change - they started talking about it as a promising and stable enterprise. And the factory workers, exhausted by instability and constant stops, were imbued with confidence in him. They understood: a person with wide knowledge, experience, and the ability to find a way out of a difficult situation sat in the director's chair.

Togliattiazot logo for March 2012

Since the early 1990s, Togliattiazot has been fighting to maintain its positions in the world chemical market and at the same time is actively engaged in the introduction of new industries. There was a production of bricks, ceramic tiles, tiles, frits, furniture production, the production of polyethylene film, a line for assembling video equipment was launched, the production of window and door blocks from PVC with double-glazed windows began. In addition, in the Sverdlovsk region, a marble quarry was developed almost in its bare place, marble processing is carried out here on Italian equipment. For the first time in Russia, a line for the production of medium-density wood boards - MDF - was launched at the Sheksninsky wood board plant. Each of these industries has a future, which means jobs.

Togliattiazot belongs to those companies that are constantly focused on promising development and solve strategic tasks. A striking example of this is the construction of a port on the Taman Peninsula, which is currently being carried out by the corporation and the commissioning of which will be of strategic importance for Russia as a whole.

1979: Start of production

Five years later, namely in April 1979, Togliattiazot issued the first tons of ammonia. In the same year, the first urea production unit was introduced. It was followed literally six months later by the launch of the second. Chemists handed over object after object: in August 1983. obtaining a first liquid carbon dioxide product; in October 1985 the urea formaldehyde resin (CFS) production unit was commissioned; in June 1986, the last, seventh ammonia unit was commissioned. The company, which had no analogues in the country, gradually gained pace, but there were a huge number of problems and the plant could not earn stably and successfully.

1974: Start of plant construction

The construction of the Togliatti Nitrogen Plant, which was destined to become one of the leaders in the world chemical industry, began in November 1974. The company was built by agreement with the famous company Armand Hammer "Occidental Petroleum" (USA). Thanks to this cooperation, the USSR received modern equipment and advanced technologies that ensure high efficiency in the operation of ammonia and urea aggregates.

The ambitious project to build the chemical giant required thousands of workers. Therefore, the country's leadership decides to declare ToAZ an All-Union shock Komsomol construction site. Enthusiasts from all over our homeland came to Togliatti on the Komsomol call. Most young men and women forever linked their fate with the Togliatti enterprise and became the founders of labor dynasties, for which the plant is famous for this time. Great help in the construction of "ToAZ" was provided by the best construction and commissioning organizations of the country, foreign specialists. Simultaneously with the chemical plant, the Togliatti-Odessa main ammonia pipeline was laid with a length of more than two thousand kilometers.

Notes