Acron Announces Managing Board Changes

7 December 2018

Acron Announces Managing Board Changes

Acron Group announces several changes in its Managing Board and appoints Dmitry Balandin the Group’s Vice President for Finance.

Acron’s Board of Directors held an absentee vote that approved a new Managing Board, as follows:

• Dmitry Balandin, Vice President for Finance
• Vladimir Kunitsky, CEO (President)
• Alexander Lebedev, Vice President for Domestic Business
• Alexei Milenkov, Finance Director
• Irina Raber, Vice President for Human Resources and Special Projects
• Dmitry Khabrat, Vice President Overseas.

Dmitry Balandin and Alexander Lebedev are new to the Managing Board, while Oscar Valters, who is leaving Acron Group, and Ivan Antonov, who remains with the Group as an advisor to the CEO, are no longer on the Managing Board.

"The new Managing Board is aligned with the Group’s new strategy, which includes investments in developing our production capacity and our sales network in Russia and abroad”, commented Alexander Popov, the Chairman of Acron’s Board of Directors. "On behalf of our Group, I would like to express our deep gratitude to Mr Valters, who has been with Acron for over 20 years and decided to retire from his position as Senior Vice President. Mr Valters has made an invaluable contribution to the Group’s business development, built an effective system of finance management and ensured sustainability of our production facilities”.

Mr Balandin graduated from Kurgan State University with degrees in finance, credit and law, and received a PhD degree in economics upon defending his doctoral thesis in the Higher School of Management at St. Petersburg State University. He has been with the Group since 2013 as Director for Corporate Finance. Previously, he held several management positions in Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat.

Mr Lebedev graduated from Vladimir State University with a degree in marketing. He has worked at Acron since 2011, serving as head of the organic and non-organic chemical product sales team, deputy head of the sales department and head of the sales department. In November 2018, Mr Lebedev was appointed Vice President for Domestic Business.

Media contacts:

Sergey Dorofeev
Anastasiya Gromova
Tatiana Smirnova
Public Relations
Phone: +7 (495) 777-08-65 (ext. 5196)

Investor contacts:
Ilya Popov
Investor Relations
Phone: +7 (495) 745-77-45 (ext. 5252)

Background Information

Acron Group is a leading vertically integrated mineral fertiliser producer in Russia and globally, with chemical production facilities in Veliky Novgorod (Acron) and the Smolensk region (Dorogobuzh). The Group owns and operates a phosphate mine in Murmansk region (North-Western Phosphorous Company, NWPC) and is implementing a potash development project in Perm Krai (Verkhnekamsk Potash Company, VPC). It has a wholly owned transportation and logistics infrastructure, including three Baltic port terminals and distribution networks in Russia and China. Acron’s subsidiary, North Atlantic Potash Inc. (NAP), holds mining licenses for 13 parcels of the potassium salt deposit at Prairie Evaporite, Saskatchewan, Canada. Acron also holds a minority stake (19.8%) in Polish Grupa Azoty S.A., one of the largest chemical producers in Europe.

In 2017, the Group sold 7.3 million tonnes of various products to 65 countries, with Russia, Brazil, Europe and the United States as key markets.

In 2017, the Group posted consolidated IFRS revenue of RUB 94,342 million (USD 1,617 million) and net profit of RUB 14,260 million (USD 244 million). Acron’s shares are on the Level 1 quotation list of the Moscow Exchange and its global depositary receipts are traded at the London Stock Exchange (ticker AKRN). Acron employs approximately 11,000 people.

For more information about Acron Group, please visit www.acron.ru/en.