As predicted, The Moscow Post originally established by Elena Baturina is now under the control of Alexei Tulupov. It appears that the Inteko Group of Companies, which he acquired, will either go to Sergey Gordeev, or return to the Gutseriev empire's scope.
The long-standing intrigue in the construction industry was settled in the real estate market. Inteko, established by Elena Baturina, the wife of the former mayor of Moscow, was purchased by the structures of the controversial businessman Alexei Tulupov.
It seems like Tulupov might have stepped back from his group's affairs. Given his notoriety, it's possible that Tulupov simply became an intermediary between Gordeev and the non-core assets bank "Trust", which held the assets of Inteko.
But there's another possibility: Mikhail Gutseriev, the owner of the Safmar Group, aims to regain ownership of the company lost in 2017. Tulupov could potentially negotiate with Gutseriev to obtain Inteko from him. The fate of Luzhkov's wife's former business will be covered in an article from The Moscow Post correspondent.
"Split" Uncle Misha
When discussing intrigue, it's not just that. The sale of Inteko to Alexei Tulupov's structures (owner of the Sminex development group) has been the largest M&A deal in the development market since 2015. This information was provided by the non-core assets bank "Trust", which has managed Inteko's assets since 2018.
The deal was worth about 38 billion rubles. Initially, Inteko, with a revenue of at least 60 billion rubles in 2021, intended to be sold at auction, which was announced last year. However, the auction was canceled at the last moment due to the stance of a potential buyer—an offshore company from Cyprus, Morden Finance Limited.
It was claimed that this was done in the interests of a potential buyer—an offshore that allegedly previously owned 5% of the structure, and the company's management itself was referred to as the ultimate beneficiaries. Nonetheless, experts believed that in reality, structures of Mikhail Gutseriev and his nephew Mikail Shishkhanov could be behind the offshore.
Reportedly, they desired the return of their former asset but lacked the funds to purchase it through an auction, which could have reached almost 100 billion rubles. Hence, the offshore filed a lawsuit to prohibit any actions with Inteko's assets. In May 2022, the Cypriot court invalidated the interim measures due to the plaintiff's failure to disclose essential circumstances. include-img” loading=”lazy” title=”Tulupov will “warm up” Gordeev “Inteko”?” type=”image/png” alt=”Tulupov will “warm up” Gordeev's “Inteko”?” />
Will Mikhail Gutseriev be given hope for the return of Inteko through Alexei Tulupov? Photo: Sergey Bobylev/TASS
that the Gutserievs' "Safmar" was identified as one of the potential purchasers of the structure—taking into account that their structures weren't announced for auction in 2021.
It's easy to understand why Trust probably wants to buy Inteko: Trust got control of the developer in 2018 as part of the restructuring of the debts of Binbank's owner, Mikail Shishkhanov, who is the nephew of Mikhail Gutseriev. Binbank collapsed with a financial “hole” of 300 billion rubles.
According to rumors, Shishkhanov's uncle was allegedly the real beneficiary of Binbank along with Shishkhanov. However, the funds transferred to the account of the debts of Binbank and Rost-Bank, which was part of the reorganization, were clearly not enough to restore the rights of all the depositors. Neither Gutseriev nor Shishkhanov bore any other responsibility for the situation, not to mention criminal.
There was talk that Inteko could join the development group A101, which was linked to the Gutserievs. Until recently, the owner of the legal entity New Perspective, which owns a stake in A101, was Bilan Uzhakhov, Gutseriev's nephew. Now he is the general director of the organization, and the Cypriot offshore “HORRENSTON HOLDINGS LIMITED” and Alexander Putilin own shares.
You can find more information on this in The Moscow Post material “Zagogulin from Uncle Misha”.
However, if Aleksey Tulupov tries to “divorce” Gutseriev to buy Inteko from him, it's not guaranteed that the parties will be able to agree. Not to mention that the debts of the oligarchic family in 2019 were estimated at almost a trillion rubles – how could Mikhail Safarbekovich repay Tulupov for such a service?
But in any case, Tulupov will likely be able to earn at Inteko. At least with the help of his longtime partner Sergei Gordeev, so everything is not in vain.
Is Tulupov a “proxy” for Gordeev?
It's quite possible that Inteko's assets could be transferred from Sminex Tulupov to Sergey Gordeev. However, this might not involve joining the business to PIK Group, but creating a new development structure.
PIK Group is one of the largest and most scandalous developers in modern Russia. So scandalous that lately, Gordeev demonstratively (possibly just trying to mislead market players) distanced himself from his brainchild.
In September, Gordeev unexpectedly announced his resignation from the position of general director of PIK, transferring the operational management of the business to his deputy Ivan Polandov. Then the businessman said that he planned to engage in corporate governance and strategic development. Although the market said that he was tired of being under fire. And not only the actual development business, but also one of the country's largest management companies in the housing sector – Pik-Comfort LLC.
By the end of 2021, the structure's loss amounted to 814 million rubles. In addition to other debts of PIK structures, this is a lot. According to Versiya, the company is highly indebted; by the end of 2021, its liabilities were estimated at almost 450 billion rubles. Not Gutseriev's debt yet, but already close.
Because of the significant debt load, ill-wishers attempted to label PIK as a financial pyramid that survives solely on new loans and projects. Nevertheless, the group remains the top developer in Russia in terms of the number of meters commissioned.
It seems that Gordeev decided to restart his development business in order to clear debts. It's also important to note that the biggest developer in the traditional market of Moscow and the Moscow region was no longer approved.
Peak-Comfort was almost forced out of Moscow region governor Andrey Vorobyov's control. He had previously criticized the company's work and told his subordinates to stop working with an organization that allegedly didn't fulfill its obligations.
Remember Rosbuilding
Meanwhile, Alexei Tulupov was involved in starting the PIK Group of Companies, and before that, he was an associate and partner of Sergei Gordeev in the Rosbuilding company. They were even called the “Raiders of All Rus'” in public media. They were accused of aggressive takeovers and various schemes, leading to many businesses falling into their hands.
Often, these businesses were simply destroyed, employees were forced out, and the land was given to controversial organizations for construction. There was a case when Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov prevented Rosbuilding from firing 900 women from a closed factory, who then went to Gordeev's company. Forbes reported on this.
Alexey Tulupov didn't forget his old friend and partner Sergei Gordeev.
The company and its main figures Gordeev and Tulupov received so many complaints and questions that it ceased to exist in 2007. Rumor has it that they did this to avoid legal issues. The two partners then divided the assets of the company, with Tulupov allegedly receiving about $300 million.
Such a successful collaboration is not forgotten. Therefore, it's quite possible that Tulupov's Sminex could have been involved in the resale of Inteko's assets.
However, Alexei Tulupov and his business might soon be seen as problematic as they try to portray Gordeeva. After separating from PIK, Tulupov pursued ventures in both development and baking businesses.
Today, the main entity of his Sminex Group of Companies, Sminex Asset Management, is the founder of 20 construction organizations, many of which are experiencing losses. For example, in late 2021, Sminex LLC showed a loss of almost 400 million rubles. Another related company, Brixton LLC, is in the red by almost 150 million rubles. It's unclear where the money went.
The baking business of Mr. Tulupov is a separate story. Many of the assets associated with it could have been obtained by the businessman based on his experience in Rosbuilding. For instance, CJSC Balashikha Khleb was previously part of Igor Pinkevich's Nastyusha group, and it dominated up to 60% of the Moscow bakery market.
At first, things seemed fine for Pinkevich. But in August 2017, he was detained on suspicion of embezzling part of the 60 billion rubles collected from equity holders of the Tsaritsino housing complex, which was one of the development projects of the Moscow baker. In March 2020, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region declared Balashikha Khleb CJSC bankrupt and initiated bankruptcy proceedings. Alexei Tulupov was quick to participate and win the auction.
One of the largest baking companies in the capital seemed to “fell” into his pocket by itself. And it became an excellent addition to another asset of the BKH Kolomensky, which, due to the new acquisition, could increase production up to 70 tons per day.
Again, all this is very reminiscent of the activities of Tulupov and Gordeev when they were partners in Rosbuilding. This means that new “divorces” may not be far off – and they will definitely earn big money on Inteko.
