Construction giant Samolet in trouble
Long considered the high-flyer among Russian real estate companies, Samolet is Russia’s largest residential developer in terms of construction volume. This was entirely fitting given its name, Samolet—the Russian word for “airplane,” pronounced “Samaljot.”
According to the Russian industry portal ERZ, Samolet is the country’s largest residential developer in terms of residential floor space under construction. As of February 1, the company had a total of 4.72 million square meters under construction across 16 Russian regions, placing it ahead of its biggest competitor, PIK. The developer, also based in Moscow and listed on the Moscow Stock Exchange, had a construction volume of 4.07 million square meters across 14 regions. In terms of revenue, however, PIK—which focuses more on Moscow and the surrounding area—is ahead. In the first half of 2025, it generated 328 billion rubles (3.6 billion euros), nearly twice as much as Samolet, which brought in 170 billion rubles (1.8 billion euros).
In October 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Samolet ventured onto the Moscow Stock Exchange. It was the first IPO of a private company following a three-year drought without any significant IPOs in Russia, the Reuters news agency reported in late November 2021. By that point, Samolet’s share price had nearly quintupled thanks to strong financial results. The company even mentioned a possible listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023.
Government to Help with Debt Service
Now Samolet has made another move: As the first representative of the struggling construction industry—and likely the first major Russian private company in recent years—it asked the government for financial aid in mid-January 2026. The letter, reported by the Moscow-based business portal RBC on February 4, mentions a subsidized loan “or another stabilizing instrument” amounting to approximately 50 billion rubles, equivalent to about 540 million euros. According to RBC, the company wrote to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin that this was intended to prevent the company from being unable to meet its obligations to creditors and investors. In return, it offered the government a stake in the company, for which the company would like to reserve a right of repurchase, RBC quoted from the letter.
Samolet itself confirmed the request for “state support,” as stated in the press release. This is in line with “standard market practice” and “a diversified approach to ensuring the long-term stability of the business.” Without the aid, the company would be forced to sharply raise prices for new-build apartments, Samolet had previously written on its Telegram channel.
On February 9, five days after the first media reports, CFO Nina Golubichnaya provided investors with details regarding the request for assistance. She clarified that, given the high base interest rate, Samolet was hoping for state support with debt servicing. Instead of making interest payments to banks, the company wants to use its available funds for new projects or to reduce existing liabilities. At the same time, Golubichnaya denied the offer in the letter to transfer shares to the government. She clarified that the blocking stake mentioned there—that is, at least 25% of the shares—could only be used as collateral to secure the requested loan.
Burden from Expensive Takeover
At that point, Samolet’s stock had lost nearly 15% on the Moscow Stock Exchange within a few days. Following the clarification, the stock recovered just under 5%, but after further losses yesterday, it was still trading at around 850 rubles (9.2 euros) per share—about 13% below the price on February 4.
In the fall of 2021, when Samolet was still toying with the idea of an IPO on Wall Street, the share price stood at over 5,000 rubles, which was equivalent to around 60 euros at the time. Following the general crash on the Moscow Stock Exchange in 2022, Samolet shares also recovered and were back at 4,000 rubles by the end of 2023. Two factors, which are affecting all Russian housing developers, were also responsible for the subsequent decline of the stock throughout 2024 to around 900 rubles: the high key interest rate and the sharp cutbacks in state-subsidized mortgages for homebuyers. This also pushed down the stock price of the second major industry player, PIK. While its stock has roughly halved since its recovery high in 2024, Samolet’s stock plummeted to less than a quarter of its initial price.
The takeover of competitor MIC in the fall of 2023 contributed to the excessive decline of Samolet’s stock as well as to its current problems, explains real estate expert Ivan Bogatov. Samolet financed the purchase price of more than 45 billion rubles (489 million euros) in part with a variable-rate loan. Since the Russian key interest rate had already risen from 7.5% to 16% in the course of 2023, the cost of servicing this loan would have more than doubled, Bogatov explains. In 2024, the key interest rate then rose further to a record high of 21%. According to the expert, Samolet is attempting to refinance this expensive acquisition loan with government assistance. He does not, however, consider the so-called project debt to be problematic. These are earmarked bank loans for individual construction projects. Samolet reports their current total volume at 650 billion rubles (7.1 billion euros). This is already offset by 400 billion rubles (4.3 billion euros) in advance payments from buyers held in escrow accounts.
Concerns about a precedent
The company has not yet received a decision from the government regarding the aid, CFO Golubichnaya told Samolet investors on February 9. Oleg Sysuev, chairman of the supervisory board of Alfa-Bank—one of Samolet’s lenders—expressed confidence that the government “will not ignore” Samolet. However, he doubted that it would grant the company a reduced-rate loan, as this would raise expectations among other companies. Other experts also warned the business portal RBC of a precedent for the entire struggling industry.
Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Duma’s Finance Committee, also expressed skepticism about direct financial aid from the state budget. However, Aksakov noted that if Samolet had found itself in a difficult situation through no fault of its own, the state would find a way to help it. Svetlana Razvorotneva, deputy chair of the Duma’s Construction Committee, articulated the dilemma now facing the government. On the one hand, the state should not bail out private companies with money. “Those who have gone under have gone under and have only themselves to blame,” Razvorotneva said. On the other hand, the state would ultimately have to step in to protect homebuyers if one of the largest developers were to go bankrupt. As a possible solution, she proposed buying apartments from Samolet and the other companies and converting them into public housing.
On the evening of February 18, the business newspaper Kommersant reported, citing its own sources, that the government had decided against granting a subsidized loan to Samolet. Nevertheless, its stock price rose by about 4% following the publication of the report. The reason for this is likely that, according to Kommersant, the government assesses the company’s financial condition as “not critical” and sees no need for direct state aid. Instead, the government is planning measures to indirectly support Samolet, the report states.
This article first appeared in the exclusive newsletter of the German-Russian Chamber of Foreign Trade
