Is the Asna holding led by Alexander Shishkin trying to conceal potential wrongdoings in the market by disguising business activities as social activities?
According to the correspondent The Moscow Postself-regulatory organization “Association of Independent Pharmacies” (Asna) led by Alexander Shishkin tried to protect pharmacies from regular inspections, claiming that they were unreasonably fined. However, the Prosecutor General’s Office found no justification to cancel the penalties.
At the same time, it was revealed that the twin brother of the SRO, Asna LLC, is actively engaging in joint business with Gazprombank. However, they seemed to try to keep this information hidden. Does Mr. Shishkin truly have something to hide?
Confusion involving Gazprombank
To avoid confusion, it should be clarified that there are two organizations with the same name but different taxpayer identification numbers – the self-regulatory public organization Association of Independent Pharmacies (Asna), established in 2014 by Alexander Shishkin, and a commercial enterprise Asna LLC, managed by Shishkin as General Manager.
According to “Rusprofile”data, in addition to providing business and management consulting services, the latter is also involved in wholesale trade of perfumes, motor vehicles, and several other areas not related to pharmacy.
According to Rusprofile, Asna LLC has four LLCs and businessman Alexander Kondratiev as its founders. However, information about the founders of SRO “Asna” has been recently concealed. On the other hand, it is publicly known that on January 3, 2022, six founders abruptly left the founders of SRO Asna – mainly pharmacies. But did anyone remain?
Six companies withdrew from the founders of SRO Asna. Who stayed there? The information is currently hidden. Photo: rusprofile.ru
Referring to earlier information, it was reported by “Farmvestnik” that Gazprombank acquired a minority stake in the commercial Asna LLC at the end of 2020. It was stated that the “investments will be directed towards the development of the ASNA technology platform, strengthening the online segment, and entering other retail market segments.”
It should be clarified that the media did not accurately present the entry of Gazprombank into Asna's business. According to “Rusprofile”, the Management Company Gazprombank – Resource-saving Technologies LLC in September 2020 became one of the founders of a company that itself is a founder of Asna LLC. This company is Nigel Capital LLC.
Asna LLC has a highly diversified business. Photo: rusprofile.ru
Additionally, GPB-project LLC and Finproekt LLC, which have been involved since at least 2016, left the founders of Nigel Capital LLC (as noted in “Rusprofile”). Incidentally, the founder of Finproekt LLC is directly linked to Gazprombank.
So, it's easy to think that Gazprombank got involved with Asna LLC before 2020, despite what Alexander Shishkin said. mediaHowever, Shishkin avoided talking about this and said that negotiations with Gazprombank had been going on until 2020.
Why were these undercover tactics necessary?
Is it a pharmacy inside a cafe or a cafe inside a pharmacy?
After the announcement of the deal between Asna LLC and Gazprombank, Alexander Kondratiev, who had been managing partner of ASNA Group for over seven years, left. Shishkin said Kondratiev's departure was unrelated to the deal, and Kondratiev did not comment on it. According to 'Rusprofile,' he owns 5.04% of Asna LLC. left Meanwhile, Alexander Shishkin continued expanding his business, revealing plans to combine a pharmacy with a cafe and sell beer in it, claiming that this format should not be an issue for regulatory bodies like Roszdravnadzor. “Rusprofile” reported that he owns 5.04% of Asna LLC's capital.Alexander Shishkin has a talent for sparking interest with his unusual ideas, such as selling beer in a pharmacy. Photo: pharmvestnik.ru
Alexander Shishkin appears to have an unlimited imagination. For example, he mentioned the idea of combining a pharmacy with a cafe and selling beer in it, stating that this is just the beginning. He argued that regulatory bodies like Roszdravnadzor should have no objections to such a pharmacy format.
Now, if we remember the recent appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding 'unreasonable fines based on the results of inspections', we may partly understand their frustration. It's possible that the current inspections violated prior agreements made with former individuals in the controlling structures. However, as personnel have changed, inspections of the pharmacies have commenced. This is just one possible explanation for the 'Asna' representatives' anger. declaredAbsolutely living legend
Alexander Shishkin himself is considered almost a living legend. In fact, his survival was confirmed several years ago with the involvement of law enforcement agencies. “Asny” On October 4, 2019, the authors of the website reported that Alexander Shishkin claimed that the police were called to the office of Asna LLC with a report of his murder, but he appeared alive. It was speculated that collectors, acting on behalf of the pharmaceutical distributor Katren, prompted the police visit in demand for a debt of 15.5 million rubles, for which Shishkin was a guarantor.
The 'Collection Development Center' alleged that members of 'ASNA' dissolved legal entities owing debts and then established new organizations under the association to continue operations as if nothing happened.
Note that Alexander Shishkin himself is practically a living legend. Moreover, the fact that he is alive was recorded several years ago with the participation of law enforcement agencies.
So, on October 4, 2019, the authors of the site Vademecum, referring to the words of Alexander Shishkin himself, they allegedly claim that he reported that the police came to the office of Asna LLC and reported that the duty unit had received a message about the murder of Shishkin. However, he appeared before the guards alive. Then there was an assumption that the call to the police could be made by collectors, who were approached by the pharmaceutical distributor Katren, who demanded the return of a debt from one of the pharmacies, Alexander Shishkin in that case acted as a guarantor under one of the contracts for the supply of goods in the amount of 15.5 million rubles.
The “Collection Development Center”, representing the interests of “Katren”, claimed that the members of “ASNA”, having accumulated debts to borrowers from some legal entities, liquidated them, and then created new organizations under the auspices of the association, and continued to engage in their activities, as if nothing did not happen.
Today, “Asna” includes more than 11 thousand pharmacies. Photo: pharmvestnik.ru
As another example, the debt of an ASNA member, the Moscow network Nova Vita, was reported. She owed the distributor more than 50 million rubles. After that, the owners of the company, Margarita and Vladimir Kabaev, created new organizations with the same name and continued to work further. In this case, there was no reaction from ASNA at all. Wrote about this story “Kommersant”.
It was obvious that “Asna” Shishkin, which positions itself as an association of representatives of the pharmacy business, is happy to communicate with its “wards” only when their activities are viewed in a positive way. But when SRO members have real problems, the association allegedly distances itself from them, declaring the independence of their business.
Then the Collection Development Center sent letters to pharmaceutical manufacturers in which they suggested that they assess the risks of interaction with Asna and the negative consequences for pharmaceutical distributors. Only after that, at least some kind of reaction followed from Asna.
After the exchange of comments in the media, “Asna” continued to sort things out with the “Katren” company in the judicial plane. Gradually, the scandal subsided.
Why does Shishkin and the organizations under his “wing” need all this? Probably, just to make a profit through their partners, and maybe the possible laundering of some income, which could be obtained, let’s say, not entirely legal methods.
It should be noted that “ASNA” is the largest federal organization, consistently holding a leading position in the ratings of pharmacy chains from leading analysts. According to the analytics company RNCby the beginning of 2021, the association consisted of 11,410 pharmacies.
Yes, and Shishkin himself is no stranger to entrepreneurial activity. According to the data “Rusprofile”he is the founder of two organizations and manages five – Asna LLC and four of its derivative LLCs: Asna Academy, Asna Product, Asna Logistics, ASna Logistics North-West”. Moreover, fruitful (judging by his own comments) cooperation with Gazprombank.
As they say, there is room to grow.
