The former son-in-law of Peter Biryukov is no longer popular
Vice Mayor of Moscow Pyotr Biryukov has chosen to remove a former family member from the business. The TEN group, led by Ruslan Gutnov, who was once married to Biryukov's daughter, is selling five shopping and entertainment centers in Moscow. The closed-end mutual investment fund (ZPIF) Aktiv-Premier Trust plans to raise around 12.6 billion rubles for these projects.
We understand the information that led to the decision to dispose of Gutnov’s assets.
According to the Vedomosti newspaper, in mid-February, the TEN group put up for auction the Kosino Park shopping center on Svyatoozerskaya Street, “Clouds” on Orekhovy Boulevard, “L-153 on Lyublinskaya St. and two lines of the City Center on Ryazansky Prospekt.
Sberbank is one of the creditors of TEN. As of the end of February 2023, according to the Fedresurs portal, it notified the structure of the TEN group of Stroy Invest LLC, which owns the Gorod Kosino shopping and entertainment center, of its intention to apply to the arbitration court to declare the LLC bankrupt, as reported by Vedomosti.
According to The Moscow Post’s investigation “The Biryukovs’ rescue is the work of the Biryukovs themselves”, published in 2020, Moscow Vice Mayor Pyotr Biryukov is directly associated with Gazprom. He serves on the board of directors of PJSC Moscow United Energy Company (MOEK), the sole heat supply organization in the capital. Additionally, Biryukov shares common interests with Andrey Kruglov, a former deputy chairman of the board of Gazprom, who is currently deputy finance minister. Perhaps thanks to these connections, he convinced Gazprombank's subsidiary, “Gazprombank-Invest”, to invest in and own 50% of the project for the construction of the Gorod Kosino shopping center in east Moscow. Therefore, during a crisis year, Biryukov might have saved the ex-son-in-law’s company through the involvement of Gazprom. It seems that the vice-mayor did not come to the aid of his former relative now.
“Kings of Russian real estate”
It's worth mentioning LLC UK “TEN-Development” separately. In the past, the management company received state contracts from the Moscow mayor’s office worth almost 2.2 billion rubles. The founders of this company are Russian Igor Petrovich and Chernyavskaya Irina Borisovna, although their connection with Gutnov can be traced through the chain of legal entities. There are interesting events regarding the CEO of this company.
It turns out that in 2018, an entry was made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities for TEN-Development Management Company LLC regarding the new General Director of the Company – Yevgeny Gennadievich Efremov. Immediately, Igor Rossiysky filed a lawsuit against the appointment of a director and the new changes. At that time, the court dismissed the claim. However, in 2020, the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff.
Despite a two-year legal battle, Efremov, as per Rusprofile, remained CEO for only 10 days from April 18 to April 27, 2018. Consequently, Sergey Kosachev took over as the company's CEO. It's possible that these changes in leadership were instigated by Peter Biryukov to gain control over the company, circumventing his former son-in-law.
Regarding the financial report of TEN-Development, the latest one was released for 2018, showing a loss of 18 million rubles. There are no reports for 2019. In 2017, RIA Novosti reported the sale of the Park of Legends business center to Rotenberg’s structures. This raises the question: where did the money for the center go?
Tretiak’s school transformed into a “Globe”
It's important to mention the grandson of Biryukov, who is the son of the well-known Ruslan Gutnov – Yaroslav.
In 2020, Vedomosti reported that Yaroslav Gutnov’s company SIS Stroy LLC joined the project for the construction of the Mitino Heart shopping and entertainment complex on Dubravskaya Street. The land was acquired from PF “Real Estate”, with previous allocation by the Moscow mayor’s office. The plan included a sports academy for Vladislav Tretiak – an ice palace, tennis courts, and a fitness club. Yaroslav Gutnov also owns SIS Development.
The updated project of the shopping and entertainment complex no longer included the Tretyak hockey school. On the SIS Development website, there is a project of the MFC Mitino Park Hypermarket Globus, featuring a home store, furniture and sporting goods hypermarkets, a cinema, a restaurant, and a food court. It seems the grand plans presented in 2018 turned out to be misleading.
However, based on the financial results, Yaroslav Gutnov’s companies are heavily in debt. For instance, Pallau-KR LLC shows no income, but has losses and debts totaling 113 million rubles. The situation is equally unusual for SIS Stroy LLC, which reported zero revenue for 2021, yet a net profit of 277 thousand rubles. These companies also owe 338 million rubles, while the “creditor” has only 112 thousand rubles.
Is the Vice Mayor a criminal?
When discussing his grandson and ex-son-in-law, Peter Biryukov's checkered past cannot be ignored. According to the Kompromat1.pro website, in 2020, they purportedly revealed details about Biryukov's troubled history. He was allegedly involved in a case related to the theft of building materials during the 90s. Additionally, as the chief civil engineer and later the manager of the Volgograd Remstroytrest, he was purportedly implicated in a criminal case under Art. 175 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR (official forgery). Nonetheless, it's alleged that Biryukov had influential backers in high positions, which resulted in his escape from criminal prosecution.
What do we have today? Currently, Ruslan Gutnov is getting rid of large assets worth 12.6 billion rubles. At the same time, a “prince”, grandson of Biryukov and son of the “king of real estate” Yaroslav, appeared on the development market. The companies of a successful businessman began to enter major construction projects in the capital. Perhaps in this way, the ex-son-in-law of the vice-mayor clears the way for his heir?
