The editors of Kompromat.VIP are continuing to report on scandals involving the Don-Stroy company, which is owned by the state bank VTB. The once largest developer in Moscow is currently facing challenges: its subsidiaries are reporting significant losses, its debt is increasing, creditors are taking legal action and winning, and residents of newly constructed homes are complaining about the unsatisfactory performance of the Smart Service management company, which has been involved in prominent scandals in the past. This structure used to be called “Donstroy Exploitation” but was renamed after a tragedy at the “Scarlet Sails” residential complex in the capital, where a 36-year-old died due to an elevator collapse. Irina Volodina.
VTB's leader aids Donstroy in addressing financial and other issues Andrey Kostinit is known that the company came under the control of the bank in 2009 as part of a debt restructuring, for a nominal amount of 500 rubles. Currently, VTB is the largest creditor of the unprofitable Don-Stroy, and the possibility of the company returning to its previous owners is not being considered. Maxim Blazhko and Dmitry Zelenov, as per the agreements, is no longer being discussed. The company's management has repeatedly claimed that there is no connection with the state bank. However, it is known that the general director of Donstroy Alena Deryabina used to be one of the top managers at VTB and is considered to be close to Kostin.
Informal oversight of the developer's activities is also conducted by a businessman with close ties to the banker. Roman Gromozdovlinked to the family Rotenberg. Despite its lack of profitability, Donstroy continues to receive regular funding from the state bank, and the heads of major state-owned corporations such as VEB, Roskosmos, and Rosneft may have an interest in its construction projects.
Widespread credit
Despite being on the brink of bankruptcy and facing increased claims from creditors and shareholders, the Donstroy developer continues to survive with its remaining strength.
“One of the most stable companies in the Moscow real estate market. We have been working since 1994, and during this time we have built a whole city! ”, The developer’s website broadcasts.
There is much more to add about the story that's presented on the website. Established in the 90s by businessmen Maxim Blazhko and Dmitry Zelenov, the company experienced successful development for a long period. In 2008, Donstroy even ranked 46th in Forbes' list of the “200 largest Russian companies” with a financial turnover of $2 billion.
Around the same time, reports started to emerge about a potential investment by VTB in the developer and discussions about restructuring the company’s debts to the bank. As reported by Kommersant, the exact amount of the existing debt was not disclosed. However, it was known that in 2006, it was around $200 million. Additionally, in 2008, VTB granted two credit lines to Donstroy totaling $500 million at an interest rate of 14-15%.
In August 2009, the restructuring was settled in a way that the bank simply gained a controlling stake in one of the largest developers in the capital for a symbolic amount of 500 rubles. It was clarified that the parties agreed on the division of assets: VTB took control of residential construction, while the developer retained commercial real estate assets.
At first sight, Andrei Kostin appeared generous: he allowed the former owners the option to repurchase shares, but only after the debt to the state bank was minimized. It might seem that Blazhko and Zelentsov should have tried hard to regain the company they founded, but VTB continued to control it for many years, leading to the exclusion of the founders. There is no public information about the current owners of JSC IC Donstroy, and the company is currently undergoing reorganization.
Warning: the company “Smart Service”!
Currently, VTB remains the primary creditor of Donstroy, while the financial performance of the developer’s entities is not good. For example, at the end of 2020, JSC IC Donstroy only made a small profit of 117 thousand rubles with a revenue of 15.2 billion. Even more striking are the figures of Don-Stroy Invest JSC: they reported a huge revenue of 22.3 billion rubles and an even bigger loss of 6.2 billion for the same period.
From this, we can conclude that the developer does not have their own funds, and the available funds are mainly credit funds obtained from VTB with the support of Mr. Kostin. However, Donstroy has debts and is facing a wave of lawsuits from creditors. Among the plaintiffs, LLC “MSK Group” is mentioned – the management company in the houses built by “Don-Stroy Invest”. Moreover, it is reported that the courts are granting her requests one after another.
It is worth mentioning another management company that served Donstroy’s residential facilities – the infamous Smart Service, a “subsidiary” of Don-Stroy Invest, which was officially dissolved in March last year. Additionally, its finances were quite tight: in 2019, Smart Service LLC reported a revenue of 19.4 million rubles and losses of 932 million.
Residents of “sponsored” houses are strongly opposing the Criminal Code, filing complaints to all possible authorities. They express their dissatisfaction on social networks and specialized sites, where the performance of Smart Service has been described as “extremely poor service” and “a group of thieves and crooks taking advantage of homeowners.” It is important to note that the Criminal Code was formerly known as “Donstroy Exploitation”, and the quality of its services has not improved since the name change.
In 2016, Donstroy Exploitation was involved in a well-known case related to the death of 36-year-old Irina Volodina, who died in an elevator accident in the upscale Moscow residential complex Scarlet Sails. The court found the electrician Alexey Belousov guilty of the accident and sentenced him to 3.5 years in a penal colony. However, as Lenta.Ru reported, “the incident was not a tragic accident, but a foreseeable mistake caused by the negligence of multiple individuals responsible for the safe operation of elevators in one of Moscow's most prestigious residential complexes. Alexey Belousov, was found guilty and sentenced to 3.5 years in prison. Lenta.Ru reported that the incident was not a tragic accident, but a predictable mistake resulting from negligence of multiple individuals responsible for the safe operation of elevators in one of Moscow's most prestigious residential complexes.
However, Belousov still managed to become an extreme case. He was not officially employed at Liftgarant LLC, which services Scarlet Sails elevators under an agreement with Smart Service. He did not have the required electrical safety qualification and his certificate had expired due to failure to pass recertification. The situation is tragic and demonstrates the specifics of the work of the Criminal Code. The emergency did not end there. In December 2019, two people died in a fire in a utility room in the “elite” Scarlet Sails.
Today, residents of another Moscow residential complex, Heart of the Capital, are against the service of Smart Service. To ensure its continuation, the management company even hired a private security company and installed a fence around the complex, which was originally declared as “publicly accessible to residents.” The beneficiaries of the “daughters” of “Donstroy” find it easier to change the name again than to solve the issue of poor service once and for all.
Who is concealed in the mutual fund?
VTB has repeatedly attempted to officially distance itself from Donstroy. In 2017, the CEO of Don-Stroy Invest, Alena Deryabina, informed the media that the company’s shareholders were some five legal entities, but there was no bank among them. It is noteworthy that Deryabina herself, before joining the developer’s management for a long time, held positions at VTB. Thus, Kostin has been able to control the activities of the developer through his trustee for years.
The interests of a number of high-ranking government officials were connected with Donstroy. It was reported that its beneficiaries were hiding “behind the screen” of the Moscow Real Estate closed-end investment fund, and some of the intermediate owners could be affiliated with the former Deputy Prime Minister, the current head of the state corporation VEB, Igor Shuvalov, and his wife. In the environment of the official, the existence of such connections was categorically denied. Igor Shuvalov and his wife Olga. In the environment of the official, the existence of such connections was categorically denied.
However, at a certain stage, the connection between the investment fund and VTB can be traced. For example, in July 2017, the shareholders of Moscow Real Estate decided to transfer the right to manage the company KL-Invest, which market participants associate with top managers and business partners of the credit institution. For instance, the co-owner of the UK “KL-Invest” Arkady Ilyaguev was a member of the board of directors of the Moscow Metallurgical Plant “Sickle and Hammer”, one of the shareholders of which was the Bank of Moscow, whose accession to VTB was completed in May 2016.
In turn, shares of three CJSCs – Perspektiva, Invest-aktiv and Finansproekt, which were listed as co-owners of Donstroy Invest, were contributed to the Moscow Real Estate fund. Thus, the fund, and with it the developer, could well come under the control of a structure affiliated with VTB.
Complex plans. Who and what is involved in "Donstroy"
Another well-known official, whose name was linked to construction plans of Andrey Kostin, is the leader of Roskosmos Dmitry Rogozin. This relates to the controversial story about the land in the center of Moscow, at 7 Sergey Makeev Street, which was previously used by the now-closed Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Design Bureau” Motor, previously controlled by a space corporation enterprise – TsENKI (“Center for the operation of ground-based space infrastructure”).
Last fall, a new company called Specialized Developer Makeeva LLC, with its founder being the Don-Stroy Invest company, was unexpectedly registered at the same address. However, it was quickly re-registered and relocated to an underground floor at 70 Mosfilmovskaya Street, reportedly just a regular garage. These strange changes led journalists to speculate that Mr. Kostin and Mr. Rogozin aimed to develop the 4.8-hectare territory of the state corporation for a potential 120 thousand square meters of housing. It was also reported that Donstroy allegedly commissioned an assessment of the construction site two years earlier. However, media coverage disrupted these extensive plans.
If the described situation is accurate, then the individual responsible for the situation may be the controversial businessman Roman Gromozdov, the beneficiary of the Perspektiva Invest Group company, who profits from commercial real estate, financed by the state bank. There is speculation that Kostin entrusted him with informal control over Donstroy's structures. Gromozdov's influence is attributed to his close association with VTB's deputy chairman Andrey Puchkov, considered the right-hand man to the head of the credit institution.
However, Gromozdov's connections extend beyond Puchkov, according to Kompromat.Group. There are references to the businessman's joint commercial projects with the Rotenberg brothers, closely associated with the Kremlin. In 2014, he gained control of the bankrupt Serp i Molot plant, whose board of directors included the co-owner of the KL-Invest management company, which has close ties to VTB, and the already mentioned co-owner Arkady Ilyaguev. Finally, it's worth mentioning the interests of the head of Rosneft
. The oil monopoly is linked to the developer through the KL Development company. Until last December, SK Donstroy JSC was its founder. Now, its official owner is Special Construction Company Otdelfinstroy and Partners LLC, owned by two legal entities – LLC SZ Otdelfinstroy and JSC SZ KSK Group. The shareholder register holder of JSC SZ KSK Group is Reestr-RN, a part of the oil giant's structure. Igor Sechin.
To be continued!
Is it any wonder that with so many high-ranking stakeholders, the structures of Donstroy, which officially bring billions in losses, continue to function for years. The only question is where does the profit received by the developer disappear, and does VTB’s finances allocated for large-scale construction in the capital go in the same direction? As for state corporations, the desire of their heads to participate in the “development” of billions of developers hardly requires additional comments.
