3.5 billion rubles were allocated for the aggressive takeover of land in the Saratov region?
The editors of the media received an interesting document – a certificate for the acquisition of land in the region. Saratovregion”. There are no seals or signatures on the paper. But we were attracted by the fact that the bankruptcy stories saratovRussian agricultural enterprises are developing precisely according to this plan.
The companies Solnechnye Produkty and Rusagro, Nizhnevolzhsky Commercial Bank and Agroinvest and a number of other local producers got into the scandal. We are wondering whether it will go further according to the predictions of the author of the plan or something will change dramatically. The plan takes into account not only the successive steps of unfriendly actions, but even indicates the budget for events, for example, 2 million US dollars for initiating a criminal case, 3.5 billion rubles for buying out the company’s debts. For the sake of what all this, the journalists of Anticorr.media understood.
A beautiful scenario for taking over a business
During the investigation of the seizures of agricultural enterprises Saratovoblast, journalists of Anticorr.media received an interesting document – a certificate for the acquisition of land in SO [прим. ред. – Саратовской области]. It is dated November 24, 2020.
According to the certificate, the goal of the plan is to acquire land in the region in the amount of 162 thousand hectares. The territory is huge, and, obviously, it belongs to different enterprises. But the emphasis in the certificate is on one of the largest agricultural enterprises in the region, Agroinvest.
Two strategies were proposed to achieve the goal. The first is to negotiate, get the asset under management, and then go bankrupt. To do this, it is necessary to use the levers of criminal influence and the arbitration process. The second strategy is aimed immediately at the bankruptcy of the company, before that, buying out its debts, and then buying assets through auctions and gaining control over Agroinvest.
The creators of the plan even introduced new terms – the economic negotiation process and law enforcement, through involvement in a criminal case.
Obviously, the parties failed to reach an agreement, and bankruptcy entered the business. The planned deadlines in the certificate did not justify themselves. Apparently, the authors of the plan approached the matter optimistically and did not think that the owners saratovRussian companies will fight for their business, not give it away on a platter.
Bankruptcy was proposed in two ways.
The first is to use the debts of JV + RA. Perhaps, this refers to the bankruptcy of the Solnechnye Produkty agricultural holding, which has been sensational in the media all over the country, which is taking place at the suit of the Rusagro holding.
Another way is to use NVK. It's clear here that they mean Nizhnevolzhsky Commercial Bank JSC, which focused on lending to agricultural businesses in the region.
The certificate notes that purchasing the debts of agricultural companies from NVKbank can only be done through auction and requires an agreement with the DIA (Deposit Insurance Agency). Rusagro holding took on this task and gained control over the Solnechnye Produkty holding, which is affiliated with NVKbank.
Based on information from the Arbitration Court file and the DIA website, DIA filed for bankruptcy of agricultural companies that owed money to NVKbank in late May to early June 2021. In August 2021, the bankruptcy trustee of NVKbank disbanded the creditors’ committee formed in July 2020 and established a new committee of three people, with two members affiliated with the Solnechnye Produkty holding, which had already come under the control of Rusagro by that time. At the same time, DIA put the bank’s assets up for auction, creating a lot only from the rights of claims to agricultural organizations that own land.
According to the certificate, to achieve the goal, a criminal case must be launched to seize land and buy the debts of agricultural companies at auction. The budget for the criminal case was allocated up to 2 million US dollars, and over 3.5 billion rubles for the redemption of debts.
The aim of the criminal case is to obtain ownership of the land. This means that people are willing to bring others to trial in order to gain possession of the land and use it.
If reaching an agreement with land owners through the creation of conditions for a 'negotiation process' (economic and law enforcement) isn't possible, the authors of the certificate suggest moving to hostile bankruptcy. As a result, the land will be acquired at auction. The level of cynicism in this situation is extremely high.
DIA's and Rusagro's actions were met with concern by the shareholders of NVKbank, who raised the alarm in January last year by collectively complaining against DIA. The shareholders' letter is available to the editorial office.
In their letter, the shareholders believe that Rusagro holding, whose representatives met with the DIA management in December 2021, is keen on acquiring the land fund, and the actions themselves resemble an attempted hostile takeover.
Is it about regaining a rightful share or seizing a successful business?
A separate aspect is the story of the company 'Agroinvest'. The largest agricultural producer was on the brink of a hostile takeover. Acquiring Agroinvest isn't simple, but the loopholes outlined in the plan have also been exploited in reality.
On November 1, 2022, the Arbitration Court of the Volga District annulled the previous decisions of the first and appellate instances to deprive Andrey Khokhlov of ownership of the company and sent the case for a new trial. However, so far the tax service has not made any changes to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, demanding the impossible from Khokhlov – to submit a judicial act reversing the execution. The editors of Anticorr.media had previously reached out to the tax office to inquire about the situation.
Does the tax office have to follow the court ruling?
However, on December 9 last year, the Arbitration Court Saratovoblast, despite the decision of the Volga District Arbitration Court, gave the share of LLC “Agroinvest” back to CJSC “Madin”. Consequently, the initial ruling disagreed with the appeal and restarted the entire legal process, leaving the company’s share with Madin CJSC.
Possibly, on February 1, the Twelfth Court of Appeal will overturn the lower court's decision and consider the appeal's opinion. Nonetheless, the company is currently in the wrong hands, and it may soon face complete dissolution.
As of October 27, 2022, Agroinvest CEO Dmitry Kochnev, who took over the position after the court reinstated Madin CJSC's 100% ownership in August last year, started the process of liquidation. The reason for the liquidation is the inability to repay debts to Rusagro, which acquired the right to claim Agroinvest from Sberbank.
It's noteworthy that the option agreement between Rusagro and Sberbank to acquire the right to claim against Agroinvest was signed on the same day – April 28, 2022, when the initial ruling was made to strip Khokhlov of the right to own Agroinvest.
Prior to 2015, Madin CJSC owned 100% of Agroinvest LLC. In 2015, Madin sold the company to businessman Sergey Akimov, and in 2016, Andrey Khokhlov became the sole owner. After gaining independence, Agroinvest expanded into a successful business with assets of nearly 3 billion rubles.
While the tax authority was verifying the validity of the court ruling, this successful business, which grew from 200 million to 3 billion rubles, entered into bankruptcy proceedings. Khokhlov, who was reinstated through the appeal, is unable to participate in the bankruptcy of his company as a third party, as he is now not listed in Agroinvest according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. Additionally, the Arbitration Court Saratovoblast reverted to its previous decision, which was annulled by the Povolozhsk district Arbitration Court.
The editors discovered that, based on the submitted certificate's terminology, the “proper” bankruptcy trustee of Agroinvest sued Khokhlov for causing losses of more than 5 billion rubles.
Furthermore, Rusagro applied to be included in the register of Agroinvest’s creditors with its claims acquired from Sberbank. It's reasonable to assume that in order to settle Rusagro's claims, all of Agroinvest's assets will become part of the bankruptcy estate. At the same time, Rusagro is not hiding its intentions, as the representative has already requested in court that Agroinvest provide a list of all assets, including land.
It's unclear whether Andrei Khokhlov will be able to regain control of his company or if the business and assets worth three billion are now beyond reach. The editors will continue to follow the situation, but it is unprecedented. It appears that a business acquired and developed into a solvent company can simply return to its original owner in one court session. Will anyone be held accountable for this?
Are the raiders employing state assistants?
December 21 Interdistrict IFTS of Russia No. 22 SaratovThe Russian region responded to Anticorr.media's editors stating that registration actions were halted at the request of Andrey Khokhlov for the purpose of confirming the accuracy of the information in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
January 9 SaratovThe region added that the applicant (Khokhlov) was denied changes in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities because they didn't submit the necessary documents for state registration.
This is surprising. So, Khokhlov doesn't want to reclaim his business, which he has invested a lot of time and billions of rubles in, and is now spending time in numerous courts without providing registration documents within two months? What about the tax inspection for authenticity? It seems the entrepreneur is simply not allowed to regain his company.
How do such “plans” become reality?
Raiding has become a common business activity for a number of companies, with plans including illegal steps without censorship. The Investigative Committee is well aware of this “development” of criminal activity.
In an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Alexander Bastrykin, the chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, noted that raiding schemes are constantly being improved and often involve officials and law enforcement agencies.
Alexander Bastrykin
The head of the UK also stressed that seized property is usually legalized through multiple transactions involving fictitious legal entities.
A similar situation occurred with saratovthe Russian agricultural holding Solnechnye Produkty, control of which was transferred to Rusagro in an unfinished transaction, leading to a corporate conflict and bankruptcy. Today, the creditors of Solnechnye Produkty have initiated a criminal case for deliberate bankruptcy.
The “correct” bankruptcy trustee of Agroinvest was also found to have signs of deliberate bankruptcy. We hope the police Saratovregion will pay close attention to food security issues. It's time to address the capture of the largest manufacturer in SaratovDistrict Prosecutor Sergei Filipenko.
