News

The government commission that vets foreign investment has approved the creation of a joint venture between Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, and DP World of the United Arab Emirates, according to RBC, which cited four people familiar with the commission's decisions. Rosatom confirmed the report. 

"The government commission has approved the creation of a joint venture, with shares in the FESCO group to be contributed to it and cash to be provided by DP World," the state corporation's press service said.

The parties are now finalising the legally binding documentation, Rosatom added.

DP World, owned by the UAE government, is one of the world's largest port operators, with a transport and logistics network of more than 300 business units across 76 countries. It operates major ports, terminals, industrial parks, and logistics and economic centres.

In late December last year, Rosatom set up a company to house the planned joint venture with DP World: Global Logistics LLC. It is headed by Ekaterina Lyakhova, the state corporation's business development director, who ran Delo Management Company from November 2023 to January 2025.

DP World's revenue rose 22 % year on year in 2025, to USD 24.4 billion, while adjusted EBITDA increased 18 %, to USD 6.4 billion, at a margin of 26.3 %. The main driver of growth was the performance of its ports and terminals divisions and its logistics business, the company's accounts show. For 2026 the company is planning capital expenditure of about $3 billion.

Rosatom has repeatedly said its task is to create a national logistics champion capable of playing a significant role on the international stage. In pursuit of that goal, the state corporation has been steadily building up its logistics assets.

In late 2019, for instance, Rosatom bought a 30 % stake from Sergei Shishkarev in his Delo group of companies, one of Russia's largest such holdings, later increasing its holding in the group to 49 %. In parallel, Rosatom acquired another large transport holding: at the end of 2023, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree transferring to the state corporation the shares of the previously nationalised FESCO, one of Russia's largest transport and logistics groups, with port, shipping and rail assets.

In early 2026, however, Rosatom and Shishkarev announced the end of their partnership and launched a "Russian roulette" procedure, under which one side must buy out the other's stake in the Delo group. The two sides valued the state corporation's 49 % stake at 74 billion rubles (USD 0.9 billion) and Shishkarev's stake at 77 billion rubles. Rosatom initiated the procedure, and its joint-venture partner was given the choice of whether to sell or buy the stake. He decided to buy, but failed to raise the funds by the end of June. Under the shareholder agreement, the buyback right then passed to Rosatom. Alexei Likhachev, the state corporation's director-general, subsequently said it intended to buy out Shishkarev's stake. The deal is expected to close soon, a Rosatom representative told RBC.

DP World, for its part, has been trying to buy FESCO for about a decade. In 2016 the Emirati company signed a co-operation agreement with FESCO's then-owner, Ziyavudin Magomedov, and a year later it emerged that the foreign investor intended to buy at least 20 % of the company. The Russian Direct Investment Fund was expected to take part in the deal. The government commission didn’t approve it.

A further attempt came in 2020. DP World submitted to the Russian government a plan to buy FESCO and develop it within its worldwide network. The company planned to invest 350 million dollars in modernising the Vladivostok Commercial Sea Port and to expand its railcar fleet for shipments along the Trans-Siberian Railway. After FESCO came under Rosatom's control, the talks resumed.