Kozitsyn goes “all-in”, or a good “muzzle” with a bad game
It seems that Andrei Kozitsyn is trying to prove to his partner, with whom he now shares business, Iskander Makhmudov, that without him he will not only manage, but even outplay.
According to a correspondent for The Moscow Post in the Kemerovo Region, the UMMC-Developer company announced plans to invest 112 billion rubles over 15 years in the construction of the Green Mountain and Panorama tourist areas in the F sector in the Sheregesh ski resort. Thus, Andrei Kozitsyn, who, during the division of assets with Iskander Makhmudov, gets the construction division of the UMMC, is allegedly trying to prove to his former partner without five minutes that he can successfully work without him.
If this is true, then everything does not look very convincing. after all, while Kozitsyn is entering new construction sites, Makhmudov is taking larger steps. Recently, UMMC, which is still co-owned by Makhmudov and Kozitsyn, filed a petition with the FAS to buy 100% of GV Gold, one of Russia’s largest gold mining companies, now controlled by Sergei Dokuchaev. Against this background, the desire to invest in the development of tourist areas of Kuzbass looks, of course, not so ambitious.
The financing agreement has already been signed by the governor of Kuzbass, Sergey Tsivilev, and the head of the company, Evgeny Mordovin. The latter is considered a person from the team of Andrey Kozitsyn, with whom he founded Ugmk-Navigator SZ LLC back in 2015. Together they often appear at official events, which only adds to the talk that Mordovin may be Kozitsyn’s “right hand” in terms of construction.
Mr. Mordovin is also the general director of JSC SZ Ugmk-Makarovsky, which is affiliated with the construction division of UGMK – UGMK-Zastroyshchik (it is he who will take care of the project in Kuzbass). At the end of spring of this year, Kozitsyn established the Intellect LLC company, where he appointed Sergey Erypalov, a member of the board of directors of JSC SZ Ugmk-Makarovskiy, as the head. In fact, through Intellect, Kozitsyn gains control over UMMC-Builder, while retaining the same composition of top managers.
And immediately after that, the company launched an unprecedented activity: for example, the developer UMMC-Zastroyshchik received permission to build section 2.3 of the Nagorny business class residential quarter (now the company is participating with this project in the largest Russian urban planning competition for new buildings – the TOP ZhK – 2022”), began designing the sensational Yekaterinburg City, began construction of a new house as part of the third phase of construction of the Emerald Bor residential area, and also announced plans to build an educational center and housing on the boulevard in the Ordzhonikidzevsky district of Yekaterinburg, named after Vladimir Beloglazov – a friend of Mayor Alexei Orlov, a former top manager of the UMMC.
Life after…
There is an opinion that in this way Andrei Kozitsyn is trying to show that he was not touched by the “divorce” with his longtime partner Iskander Makhmudov – they say, life goes on and on.
Earlier, The Moscow Post wrote in detail that now entrepreneurs are actively engaged in the division of assets, according to some reports, Makhmudov is only interested in copper. Museums, UMMC-Agro, UMMC-Health, construction, social projects will go to Kozitsyn. The latter will also get two plants – the Nadezhda Metallurgical Plant and the Elektrostal plant in Tyumen. The restructuring process is accompanied by a large-scale audit initiated by Makhmudov. And it is possible that businessmen may quarrel as a result of it – there is talk that Kozitsyn at one time could “steal” money from a common cause, moreover, he did this without the knowledge of his partner.
And it truly is. The news of the disagreement between the partners surprised many. According to UralPolit.ru, a kind of “last straw” could be that Andrey Kozitsyn did not want to control spending on non-core assets, which he was very fond of. Also, the entrepreneur promised to give the building of the Instrument-Making Plant in Yekaterinburg for the construction of the Church of St. Catherine, thereby involving the UMMC in a scandal on a national scale. Did Mahmudov know about this?
Remember that after the news that a religious institution would appear on the site of the square in the regional center, Yekaterinburg was literally overwhelmed by a wave of unauthorized protests. In 2019, UMMC presented another project of the River House multifunctional center. St. Catherine’s Cathedral – the same, never built temple that caused a stir throughout Russia – was designed as part of this MFC.
One of the reasons for the “divorce” is also called the situation around the bank “Ring of the Urals”. Now this story is acquiring more and more new criminal cases that can cast a shadow on Makhmudov, so his likely desire to disown this story is understandable.
In particular, the former head of the Yekaterinburg Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Igor Trifonov, is now detained, awaiting trial. He is accused of taking a bribe of 7.5 million rubles for illegally initiating a case of fraud with the funds of Koltso Urala bank. Vladimir Diaghilev is already imprisoned for fraud with bank money, who stated in court that he was initially affiliated with Koltso Urala bank, and took a loan to pay off debts to other legal entities controlled by UMMC. He also headed the Trend group of companies dealing with scrap metal.
Previously, The Moscow Post wrote that, according to Diaghilev himself, since 2011, the Trend group has been creating loans that were used in the interests of the leaders, top managers of UMMC-Holding and Koltso Urala Bank. Under the leadership of Diaghilev, conditions must be created for the issuance and servicing of loans. In the summer of 2015, financial transactions between the Ural Ring and Trend companies attracted the attention of the Central Bank.
In the “Ring of the Urals”, of course, this information was denied. But it can be assumed that in this way Kozitsyn only “got rid” of Diaghilev, so as not to make problems himself. And all this could have been an unpleasant surprise for Makhmudov, who, according to some information, might not have known about what was happening in the “Ring of the Urals”. Did Kozitsyn turn things around behind his back?
However, the situation with the financial institution could also hit Makhmudov, so the entrepreneur allegedly made significant efforts to disown the “toxic” asset. This spring, the bank came under the control of Roman Avdeev, the beneficiary of Moscow Credit Bank. Mr. Avdeev, in turn, is considered close to the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin.
And contacts with the latter have long been established with Makhmudov: back in 2016, UMMC and Rosneft created a joint venture – the Eastern Mining and Metallurgical Company, which was supposed to provide the Zvezda shipbuilding complex with plate rolled products.
Makhmudov may have talked to the top manager of the state corporation to solve the issue with the Ring of the Urals, which led the bank to end up in Avdeev's hands. This way, Makhmudov could 'save' himself and a longtime partner of Kozitsyn, despite rumors about his old comrade's behavior.
Iskander Makhmudov
However, if these actions by Makhmudov really happened, it doesn't seem like a straightforward act of 'nobility'. There might be some good reasons for this, like Makhmudov being partners with Andrey Bokarev and not wanting to raise suspicions.
The owners of the UMMC have other controversial business dealings, aside from 'The Ring of the Urals'. There have been instances of suspicious purchases and dealings, including buying stolen scrap.
There's a belief that Kozitsyn might have known about what was happening, having arranged cover with the team of the Sverdlovsk governor. It's known that the businessman and the head of the Sverdlovsk region have long standing relationships.
Reciprocal step
By the way, Makhmudov has also ventured into business, with UMMC seeking to acquire 100% of GV Gold, a major Russian gold mining company.
The Moscow Post suggested that Makhmudov's expansion of his business might be a challenge to Andrei Kozitsyn, with whom he now shares assets. A significant deal could coincide with a redistribution of assets between Makhmudov and Kozitsyn.
GV Gold, founded in 1998 by the Lanta-Bank team, has assets in the Irkutsk region and Yakutia. The shareholders are top managers of this bank Sergey Dokuchaev and Natalya Opaleva. The company planned to conduct an IPO on the Moscow Exchange for $500 million, with a market valuation of $1.5 billion.
This could be a good 'consolation' for Makhmudov, who seems to have had a falling out with an old partner. Both of them are actively involved in construction, but it's uncertain who will come out on top. Currently, Makhmudov's ambitions seem more impressive.
