Andrey Telyatnikov: The market will make everything right

Historically, FC Grand Capital has been a leading player in the corporate segment of the pharma market. After Andrey Telyatnikov and his team joined FC Grand Capital, the company started rapidly expanding to the public procurement sector and is already a top-10 player supplying drug products under government contracts. Mr. Telyatnikov, now Director of the dedicated department, talked to Vademecum about the result of their work, the company's successes in the public procurement sector and FC Grand Capital's plans to expand in that area.
– In 2023, FC Grand Capital started its active expansion in the public procurement market. Why did the group decide to go in that direction and did that change your commercial market strategy?
– FC Grand Capital has always been known for its ambitious goals, both in commercial and public sectors. The most important thing in addressing that sensitive issue is the team. At that point in time, the company had one of the strongest corporate teams at the market that still continues to function. But FC Grand Capital was also setting ambitious goals when it comes to developing public procurement, and they were ready to invest in achieving those goals: it people, technologies and other resources that can ensure fast growth. After a meeting with the Group's management to discuss conditions, most of my team, about 130 first-rate professionals, came to work for FC Grand Capital. Now we can say that the decision was the correct one and that the investment paid off.
– What are the new team's results?
– As of now, FC Grand Capital rose from the modest 36th place in public sector sales to the top 10, becoming one of the very few distributors that are developing fast both in the commercial and the public sector, as confirmed by independent analytics.
Andrey Telyatnikov, Director for Public Procurement Development, FC Grand Capital
– What are the company's plans for 2024 and beyond?
– To retain our top 10 position, to grow our competences and sales. In order to do that, we have approved a development plan that sets the following government contract goals for FC Grand Capital: 2024 – RUB 20 billion; 2025 –RUB 24 billion; 2026 – RUB 30 billion. Our plans for 2027 envision reaching RUB 45 billion in public procurement. That would be the perfect result, of course, but we are going to adjust our plans based on market realities and external factors that can change. Our main goal that remains unchanged is focusing the Group on making medicines more accessible for patients in Russia which means ensuring uninterrupted public supplies.
– Which manufacturers do you have contracts with?
– FC Grand Capital has been operating at the Russian market for over 20 years, has earned its reputation as a reliable partner, is an anchor company in the pharma industry and one of the largest taxpayers. Our public procurement circuit now includes direct contracts signed with practically all Russian pharma producers. Keeping in mind the changes that happened in the past few years, our interactions with foreign manufacturers have also been set up smoothly. Without going into too much detail about our work, I can say that now we have contract relationships with Bayer, Sanofi, GSK, Novartis, Roche, Pfizer, Fresenius, JE HealthCare, Abbot, Aspen, Alfasigma, Astellas, BBraun, Boehringher Ingelheim, Chiesi, Merz, Nutricia, Teva, Hartmann.
FC Grand Capital's being present in the list of the industry's anchor companies is a clear sign that the government thinks our company fulfills its strategic partnership criteria. I think this is an important factor in negotiations with foreign partners who consider supplies of their products to the public sector and security of those contract no less important. We keep working in that direction and we are positive that our pool of top foreign suppliers in the public procurement sector will expand very soon.
– Does FC Grand Capital focus on certain nosology groups?
– Yes, focusing on some nosologies makes us develop in a more purposeful way. Specifically, it is pulmonology, orphan diseases. We also offer a broad portfolio of intensive care products. Cancer treatment also takes a significant part in our portfolio.
We are also expanding our presence in the antibiotics sector and in the area of blood congestion products, including injection and pill forms. On top of that, FC Grand Capital is one of the few distributors to supply radiopharmaceutical agents: we were one of the first distributors to get a relevant license, and we still specialize in that area.
– Why did you choose those groups specifically?
– The public procurement market is huge, so our choice of nosology groups is not just our fancy, but rather the result of competences and business connections we have accumulated. Additionally, figuring out your specifics, or a unique feature of sorts, helps you work better and reach your targets. We have defined and selected our nosologies of choice based on that, and our results for the first six months show that we were right.
– Does FC Grand Capital have any experience in supplying products listed in the 14 Cost-Intensive Nosologies program or those for the Circle of Kindness foundation?
– Yes, we have experience like that, and it has been positive for us and our customers both. Today, combined with some tech solutions, our competences in that area open huge opportunities to scale that work up. Those bidding sessions were where we purposefully tested our logistics system and our software. We submitted documents for the 14 Cost-Intensive Nosologies program with no errors at all: a rare occurrence.
– Are the warehousing capacities that you currently have pose a limiting factor when it comes to the company's development at the public procurement market?
– Absolutely not. We keep the logistics flows for the corporate and public sectors physically separate. The budget sales department has a dedicated 5,000 square meters warehouse that can potentially be expanded to 10,000 square meters. Warehousing potential like that meets our company's ambitious plans to expand in the public procurement sector.
It should be noted that do not have just a warehouse: there is also a dedicated software for the government contract market, along with a separate procurement department. All that is to ensure that our product flows do not overlap.
– What is the ratio between public and commercial market sales now? Do you have any targets?
– Public sector shipments took up almost 10% of FC Grand Capital's sales in 2023. It will be more in 2024; like I have already mentioned, we entered the top 10 of public procurement market suppliers in the first six months of 2024. We are not going to race against ourselves, that's for sure: the corporate is developing at a good clip, so we do not have any targets when it comes to the corporate/public ratio. But if the market makes it possible for us to sell RUB 50 billion in the public segment next year, we are ready for that.
– What do you think about advantages that a distributor who used to specialize in retail might have at the public procurement market?
Of course, a company with large sales has some advantages, both for the government and counterparties. We have virtually no financing problems, thanks to partnering with lots of banks. Therefore, there are no issues for us with bank guarantees to secure public contracts with, so of course, the government considers us more predictable. We can purchase large batches of products, guaranteeing their supplies to the market, including a year in advance, which is especially important now, considering logistics difficulties that might arise with some foreign supplies. A trend we observe is that some companies have to reduce their sales just because they cannot secure them. The market will make everything right in any case, showing who is a reliable supplier.
Source: Vademecum