The purchase of two large shopping centers in St. Petersburg may involve the interests of Vladimir Svinin, Ilya Traber, and the head of Glorax, Andrey Birzhin by unknown businessmen.
.jpg?v1655370460 "Pipes went to Elektra: Birzhin could start a project with Ilya Traber")
Photo: Evgeny Dudin / KommersantThe ownership of two large business centers in St. Petersburg – Trinity Place and Electro – has changed. They are now owned by a group of businessmen who hold shares in the Royal Pipe Plant (KTZ) Vadim Shipunov.
Despite their promising prospects, efforts have been made to sell the assets for several years, possibly due to the high price. According to experts, the buyers paid about 10-12 billion rubles.
Vltsev and Vedomosti reported the change in ownership.
Little is known about the new buyers, indicating that they may be acting in someone else's interests.
Highlighted in bankruptcy history
KTZ is 100% owned by Metallstrandart, which is in turn owned by Yaroslav Peskov, Vadim Shipunov, Lev and Irina Glik. Lev Glik, the founder, is associated with 22 organizations, including Alpina Holding, a book publishing company, and Alpina Publisher, a major supplier to Moscow’s public property institutions according to Rusprofile.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
As reported by Kommersant in 2016, NMLK Vladimir Lisin was planning to acquire the Revyakinsky Metal-Rolling Plant, co-owned by Lev Glik, which was struggling with bank debts at that time. The company was said to be owned by Cypriot Sinfurs Investments Limited and was undergoing liquidation.
Lisin commented on the situation, stating that it is pointless to purchase a company with debts, and banks should write off the debts they have incurred themselves.
The RMZ has now been liquidated, which indicates that if there were any goals, they were not achieved.
Offshore Pig Sea?
According to Rusprofile, 10 out of the 22 firms linked to Lev Glik have been liquidated, with many featuring the same names as Metallstandard (Peskov, Shipunov, Irina Glik).
The assets include the liquidated OJSC “Pipe Plant” and the currently functioning LLC “Pipe Plant”. The latter was previously founded by Cypriot SHOOFEN INVESTMENTS LIMITED until 2017.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
Attention is also drawn to Peach Blossom, registered with a closed-end investment fund and managed by Svinyin and Partners Management Company. The latter is connected to billionaire Vladimir Svinin, owner of the real estate company Okhta Group.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
As previously reported by The Moscow Post, Svinin may have strong connections to the governor of the Moscow Region, Maxim Vorobyov, through his funds, including Realty Capital, which was a shareholder of Mr. Vorobyov’s Russian Aquaculture with a 23.39% stake in September 2016.
Next to the name of Svinin, Vladislav Glinberg is also mentioned – a notorious businessman who owned shares in Peresvet-Agro, which was a partner in the “burst” bank “Peresvet” and could be involved in the withdrawal of funds from it.
Svinin is an extremely non-public person and the reason may lie in his close business relationship with Ilya Traber. The Moscow Post also spoke in detail about the likely involvement of Svinin and Traber in the conflict around the port business of Valery Izraylit, who was accused in a large-scale fraud case.
Another structure that controls Svinyin and Partners Management Company – Grom Partners – belongs to SANDERBOLT PARTNERS S.A., registered in Luxembourg. It is owned in equal shares by Ingram Gregory and Luvar Francis. Previously, it was suggested that these two, through their foreign structures can “pump out” Russian money, as The Moscow Post wrote in detail.
Birzhin’s trail
Peach Blossom until April 2022 belonged to Glorax Group, and before that to three other Cypriot offshore companies – DIALCREDIT LIMITED, LUADSEK LIMITED and FORDONLINE HOLDINGS LIMITED, which belong to the same Cypriot denominations.
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
Photo: https://www.rusprofile.ru
Glorax Group is the construction company of Andrey Birzhin, who is known in St. Petersburg for his controversial projects, when historical buildings were at risk. We have spoken in detail.
It is known that at the beginning of last year, GHP Group, which has now sold Trinity Place and Electro, sold a site for the construction of a business center, located next to the already existing Trinity Place, to the Glorax developer – Vedomosti wrote about this.
These facts can theoretically indicate that the current deal was not organized without the participation of Mr. Birzhin.
A bale of interested people
Recently, The Moscow Post published an article in which he drew attention to the fact that Birzhin was parting with assets and suggested that the businessman was going to leave the country. Including the Airplane group. Which is associated with the family of the governor of the Moscow region – Andrei Vorobyov, received 50% of “SZ Rigel”. Now this story appears in a new light.
It is known that “Airplane” wanted to come to St. Petersburg with their projects. Now we understand that Svinyin is potentially expanding its sphere of influence in the city
So this story is not so simple. Here, the interests of both construction businessmen – from Svinin and Birzhin to Traber himself, and bureaucratic elites, up to the top officials of St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region, can be “buried”.
