from PistonHeads

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Wednesday 28th July

THE NEW MAN AT TVR

Who is the new boss in Blackpool?

Since the news broke of the sale of TVR, much of the concern amongst fans of the marque has stemmed from the fact that so little is known about its new owner, Nikolai Smolenski.

Smolensky is 24 years old and is more than familiar with British culture having gone to school here and with a home in Highgate. The son of one of Russia's richest men - Alexander Smolenski - Nikolai is said to be a huge car enthusiast and motorsport fan.

According to the Moscow Times, Nikolai become chairman of the Russian bank Pervoe OVK in 2001. That was later bought by another Russian billionaire. He's no longer involved with that business and his father now spends much of his time in Austria whilst Nikolai has pursued other interests.

With personal wealth estimated to be in excess of $100m, there's been much debate as to how much Nikolai bought TVR for. Figures of $15 million are being banded about but these seem likely to be based on a speculative figure mentioned in the Telegraph a month or so back.

Smolenski wasn't the only potential purchaser though. Only last night it emerged that another investor was in the process of due diligence on the Blackpool company with a view to buying it. Before that process was complete Smolensky nipped in and confirmed a deal with Peter Wheeler, perhaps based more on passion than the finite detail of the balance sheets.

What the future holds is currently unknown. Peter Wheeler is said to be staying on in a consultative position but how much time he'll actually invest in such a role remains to be seen. There's plenty of scope for change at TVR, but improving the business whilst retaining the best aspects of TVR's identity will be Nikolai's biggest challenge.

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Tuscan 2

from

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Tuesday 27 July 2004
BRITISH CAR MAKER TVR IS SOLD

Peter Wheeler today sold 100% of the shares of UK car maker TVR to Nikolai Smolenski. Based in the north west of England, TVR is the leading British sportscar manufacturer and is unique among companies of its size in that it designs and manufactures in house its own range of engines to power its spectacularly designed range of sportscars.

The company employs 400 people in Blackpool and new investment in the factory and the technology therein will bring great benefits to both the cars and the workforce.

"I am very enthusiastic about the potential of TVR and am grateful for the opportunity to become a car manufacturer," explains Nikolai Smolenski. "I have always been a fan of British car manufacturing and believe that the best automotive designers and engineers are in this country."

Founded in 1947 and built up over the last 23 years by Peter Wheeler, TVR's profile has grown dramatically over the last ten years. "It's been a fascinating time and I shall be very sad when I eventually leave," said Wheeler earlier today. "However, it's time to hand the reins over to a younger man and I look forward to helping him with his exciting plans."

Peter Wheeler remains on board as a senior consultant overseeing styling and engineering.

Plans to bring the new Sagaris and Tuscan 2 models into production continue unchanged and the first demonstrators of both cars will be arriving in dealerships in the UK, Japan, mainland Europe and South Africa over the next couple of months.

http://www.tvr-eng.co.uk/news_tvr_purchase.htm

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Sagaris

but also try: TVR company is sold . . .

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Alexander Smolensky, media, oil, banking.

Like some of the other one time black market traders, Alexander P. Smolensky also prepared himself during the Soviet era for what ultimately was to become a market economy. Some might say he over prepared himself.

Born in 1954, Mr. Smolensky moonlighted on a second job in a bakery for which he lacked a permit and then he helped typeset and publish a Bible using government presses and ink to do so. For this he was arrested by the KGB in 1981 and charged with economic crimes. Today such initiatives would be applauded. Then he was sentenced to two years at hard labor although he only served one day.

A born risk-taker, he responded to Gorbachev's 1987 decree allowing the formation of cooperatives and private businesses by founding the Moscow No. 3 construction cooperative which quickly became an vital source of supplies to Moscow tradesmen.

He made money so fast it became a problem, so, rather than trust state banks which were not accustomed to dealing with large private accounts he decided to create his own bank, the Stolichny Bank. It has grown into one of Russia's largest, now known as SBS/AGRO.

Unlike many of his fellow bankers Mr. Smolinsky has not actively sought to build up a large industrial empire. While his bank does control the newspaper Kommersant and Novaya Gazeta and he shares in the ownership of the Sibneft oil company and the television network ORT with Boris Berezovsky, for the most part he has focused instead on developing a large network of bank branches.

http://www.ulfsbo.nu/ussr/alexander_smolensky.html

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edit: image added

Modified by _RevLimit_ at 5:14 PM 7/29/2004

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#517, Friday, November 12, 1999

ARKO To Shut Down SBS-Agro Bank

By Catherine Belton
STAFF WRITER
Photo by Igor Tabakov

MOSCOW - Government officials said Tuesday that SBS-Agro bank has $2.3 billion worth of debts it cannot meet and will be closed.

The announcement brings to an end numerous attempts to keep the company alive, including a Central Bank stabilization credit line that funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to SBS-Agro.

The agency for restructuring credit organizations, or ARKO, will take over as its sole shareholder before a moratorium of SBS-Agro's debt payments runs out next Sunday, ARKO officials said Tuesday.

However, the structure they are looking to absorb is literally a shadow of its former self, with the bank's obligations some 60 billion rubles ($2.3 billion) greater than its assets, ARKO chief Alexander Turbanov said at a Tuesday news conference.

Much of the bank's property no longer belongs to the bank itself but is owned by other structures within the SBS group, he added.

"A bank's branch network is many things: it is offices, it is technology. But unfortunately all we will be able to get hold of are the people that work there," he said.

These are the only assets from the regional network recorded on the bank's balance sheet, he added.

SBS-Agro officials were unavailable for comment Tuesday.

However, a senior representative of a large and vocal part of the bank's creditors, slammed ARKO for what he called "conscious participation" in asset stripping.

The moratorium that ARKO imposed on SBS-Agro's debt payments when it began auditing the bank just under three months ago had given the bank more time to transfer assets, said Sergei Trukachyov, vice president of KONFOP, an agency that protects the rights of banks' private depositors.

Although the bank, founded by once high-flying financier Alexander Smolensky, had been struggling even before the August 1998 crash, the state had attempted to keep SBS-Agro alive because of its extensive branch network in the regions and its role as the main distributor of credits to agriculture. For these reasons the bank was deemed to be "too socially important to fail."

The Central Bank had therefore provided SBS-Agro with a 7.5 billion ruble stabilization credit in the wake of last year's financial crisis.

ARKO officials said Tuesday they have not been given enough time to check the bank's finances deeply enough to trace a flow of assets from the bank.

However, if asset stripping had taken place it could explain why the bank's capital deficit had almost doubled between the time of an audit carried out by ARKO and Price Waterhouse Coopers and an audit earlier this year that was supervised by the World Bank, said ARKO spokesman Alexander Voznesensky.

SBS-Agro founder Alexander Smolensky

The World Bank orchestrated probe revealed that the bank's obligations outweighed its assets by 32.3 billion rubles, compared to the 60 billion-ruble hole announced Tuesday by ARKO.

The bank will now "vanish" under an ARKO-proposed restructuring scheme, said ARKO deputy chief Yulia Negasheva.

ARKO chairman Viktor Khristenko, who is also a first deputy prime minister, first announced the revamp plan Friday, but details were only revealed Tuesday.

The ARKO scheme maps out a plan to match the remaining assets with certain groups of creditors.

"Private depositors will receive the most liquid assets remaining: funds held at the bank's correspondent accounts, its minimum reserve requirements and buildings that remain registered on the balance sheets of SBS," Negasheva said.

The sale of these assets should be enough to cover 50 percent of the bank's 1.5 million private depositors' claims, she added.

The bank's 6 billion rubles in arrears to the federal budget are to be off-set by unpaid loans to Russian regions, federal securities and loans to budget-funded enterprises in a scheme that should almost double the bank's liquidity and make more funds available for creditors, she said.

Foreign creditors owed a total 20 billion rubles by SBS-Agro, however, are likely to be left with slim pickings once again.

Non-residents could be offered some SBS assets in exchange for the debts, Negasheva said.

No hard cash would be available to pay off foreigners, she added.

At least part of the ARKO restructuring scheme is unclear because the agency has also said it wants to transfer SBS-Agro's credit portfolio to two state credit organizations that do not yet exist.

http://www.sptimes.ru/archive/...o.htm

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snippet:

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In March, the Financial Times reported that TVR was looking to break into the American market after U.S. interest for its cars soared after they appeared in last year's blockbuster movie "Swordfish," starring John Travolta.

Paul Walton, an editor at the BBC television program Top Gear, said Smolensky was thought to have paid Wheeler ?15 million ($27 million), a figure that could not be confirmed.

"All you're really buying is the name," Walton said. "It's quite a niche market. Nobody wants to drive such a fast, uncomfortable car."

Nonetheless, the news of another national treasure being sold to Russia's nouveaux riches had news organization scrambling to piece together what they could about the latest unknown high roller from the east.

"It's all very exciting," Samuelson said. "It's not every day that somebody comes in with lots of exciting ambitions and plans for expansion."

Samuelson had to excuse himself from an interview to send out a press release and take interviews with television crews. "I've got to get some Q&As sorted out," he said. "The evening news is screaming at me."

A spokesman for Alexander Smolensky, Eduard Krasnyansky, declined to comment when reached by telephone in Moscow late Tuesday, saying only that Nikolai is currently living in London.

In February, Finans magazine called the younger Smolensky Russia's youngest ruble billionaire with an estimated personal fortune of 2.9 billion rubles ($100 million).

In December 2001, Nikolai Smolensky became the youngest chairman of a Russian bank, Pervoye OVK, which was made up of the remains of his father's bank, SBS-Agro, which collapsed in the wake of the 1998 financial crisis.

After taking over the chairmanship of OVK, he announced ambitious plans to open as many as 1,500 branches nationwide. However, those plans never made it off the drawing board and OVK was later bought by Interros billionaire Vladimir Potanin's Rosbank.

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full article: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/....html

See. I predicted this in the first thread. He's thinking in terms of $$$, and is going to run the company into the ground that way. He probably has fantasies of becomming the next Porsche.

TVR will not work as a high volume sportscar manufacturer. That market is beyond saturated, costly, and would mean changing TVRs to please everybody. In the process loosing the niche it made for itself.

If I were him, one of the very first things I would try and do is hire a couple of Toyota's quality control experts to get the car's damn reliability to acceptable levels.

Dang. I know there is the speed12 which to me is the meanest looking car ever. I wonder how that performs.

to TVR

However the Sagaris is simply mad. I've heard nothing but good things about this car's performance. It's styling defines over the top, but it is 100% functional.

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Rouble at the top for TVR

Nikolai Smolensky

TVR is in safe hands, despite its sale to a 24-year-old Russian millionaire, bosses vowed last week. Former banker Nikolai Smolenski bought the Blackpool company, declaring his ambition to turn Britain’s biggest independent sports car maker into a global brand and crack the lucrative American market.

Smolenski is reputed to have paid between £10m-15m for TVR, buying out Peter Wheeler. A short official statement confirmed there would be no ‘large-scale restructuring’ and said that Wheeler would assume a senior consultancy role.

‘Peter felt it was time for a younger man with lots of ideas and resources to take the
company onto the next level,’ said a spokesman.

However, an investigation by Autocar has uncovered a rival bid from a British-led consortium. It was masterminded by Nigel Gordon-Stewart, former global head of sales and marketing at Lamborghini, with Creighton Brown, who was heavily involved with the McLaren F1, and industry analyst Jay Nagley.

An insider claims these negotiations had been ongoing for several months and the cash was in place for an offer of similar size to Smolenski’s, only for the group to find out last week that their bid was unsuccessful – despite having proven sports car engineers, designers and experts on hand, something the Russian takeover team so far appears to lack.

TVR officials deny there was even a rival offer on the table: ‘There were no other serious offers,’ said the spokesman. ‘There have always been people sniffing around, but this [Smolenski’s offer] was it.’

Although the Russian has no experience in running a car company, he is said to be a keen sports car enthusiast who already owns one TVR and has a second on order. Smolenski’s personal fortune is estimated to be in the region of £55m, a large chunk of which is now sunk into TVR, raising questions over future investment required in R&D, marketing and the Blackpool factory.

‘How deep are his pockets?’ asked Professor Peter Cooke, Nottingham Business School’s automotive expert. ‘The critical things are quality, new products and being able to expand the company’s distribution.’

Prof Cooke was sceptical about any early moves into the American market, warning that many small firms had tried and failed to win sales in the world’s biggest sports car market.

‘With the quality issue at present, I don’t think TVR would survive in America – you’ve got to get that sorted first. He should use the money to turn TVR into a first-class car company before chasing big volumes,’ he said.

Cooke cited Morgan as an example of a well managed specialist manufacturer that knows its niche and doesn’t chase excessive volume. He warned that the new Russian boss could be ‘too hands on – it will need a strong person who understands the industry to stand up to him’.

However, TVR’s spokesman pointed out that Wheeler had no automotive experience when he took over in 1981. He also quashed fears that production could be moved out of the UK, saying Smolenski recognised ‘the best automotive designers and engineers are in the UK.’

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get in line

(T350C pictured)

I LOVE the Sagaris. I'll be looking to buy one in the next 3-5 years, preferably with the 580hp low-boost front mounted supercharged motor from the Typhon (TVR will build it for you as requested).

Plan B: the T350C-S. Power from the 3.6L is now at 375, up from 350.

I'd definitely rock a T350 no questions asked.

BUT, TVR needs to get their reliability and quality up first, and THEN come to America.

like Porsche?

EXACTLY like Porsche did. Except don't cheapen crap to economy car standards like Porsche did.

I disagree.
Even with limited knowledge and experience I can spot a quality product and factory. I of course lack the ability to distinguish just how far up the chain the two may exist but attention to detail is generally a sign of intent and effort.
Look at VW's glass factory.

Look at him...

looks like a bit of a nutter... so he's perfect for TVR

I think the real test of just where TVR is heading will rest in a few factors:

- Smolensky's ability to manage

- What capacity Peter Wheeler stays on in will play a big role in the marque's near future. He's an old man and has recently had a child, so his priorities have changed. Regardless of official title, it remains to be seen how much of a role he'll either be interested in playing or allowed to take by Smolensky & co.

- Smolenky's vision and business model.
How much of a desire he has in making them a mass market global entity versus retaining the core values, mystique, and exclusivity of the brand. TVR doesn't need to sell 10-15,000 units to be financially viable. Concessions to modern safety regulations are a given in the global market. Just how far they'll take that and other measures in the pursuit of sales will determine if future Trevors become highly diluted "any-make" sport cars.

- Investment in motorsports. Imagine Le Mans racers with an actual budget

TVR makes left-hand-drive versions of its Tuscan and Tuscan S (Tuscan pictured).

TVR to U.S.? New Russian owner's cash creates options for British sports car maker

BRADFORD WERNLE | Automotive News Europe
Posted Date: 8/26/04

LONDON -- TVR, a British boutique sports car maker, will seek to become a more global player under its new owner -- 24-year-old Russian multimillionaire Nikolai Smolenski.

TVR exports cars to "about a dozen countries across Europe" and also to Japan and South Africa, said Jason Oxley, a company official.

The United Kingdom is by far the biggest market for the Blackpool, England-based sports car maker.

Japan, also a right-hand-drive country, is the company's second largest market.

With an infusion of cash from the new owner, the company could consider exporting to new markets such as the U.S., Oxley said.

At the moment, TVR only makes two left-hand-drive models: the Tuscan and Tuscan S.

Smolenski purchased TVR late last month from longtime owner Peter Wheeler for an undisclosed price.

The new owner has already visited the factory several times.

Smolenski, who was educated in London, is the son of Russian banking tycoon Alexander Smolenski.

The company produced more than 800 cars in 2003. Oxley said TVR peaked at around 2,000 cars during the 1990s.

TVR employs 400 at its factory.

Many of TVR's swoopy looking designs were conceived by former-owner Wheeler, who will remain as a consultant for an undetermined period.

TVR is one of the largest of at least a dozen British boutique sports car manufacturers. Others include Lotus, Morgan, Noble and Caterham.

Total volume of the British independent carmakers was 1,862 unit in 2003, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

TVR's Oxley declined to say how much Smolenski paid for the company, but press reports said it was about $26 million. Smolenski's wealth is estimated at more than $95 million.

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Time for that TVR?

With a new hand on TVR’s helm, and rumours of widespread changes to the dealer network circulating, now could be the perfect time to make a killing on a new or nearly-new car.

A few calls revealed several ex-demonstration TVRs for sale at knockdown prices. Kerridges of Ipswich has a low-mileage ‘04-registered T350 in Cooper Green for £38k - £3k cheaper than list. Silverstone TVR has two ex-press Tamoras to sell – both well maintained, both at vastly reduced prices, and one the Y-registered chameleon green car that Autocar road-tested in 2002 – yours for £27,995.

A spokesman for Racing Green Cars in Hampshire assured Autocar that widespread cost cuts were unlikely, however. ‘The news from the factory is overwhelmingly positive. We certainly won’t be slashing prices and dumping stock just in case we’re out of a job tomorrow – that would be ridiculous.’

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Greatest thread...evar.

For the love of god, when are people going to stop using that Top Gear test for anything other than comedy?

If you really think the results they achieved were correct, I honestly feel bad for you.

http://forums.mwerks.com/zerothread?id=1133996