The transfer of Lev Khasis to a new holding may be an attempt to withdraw profitable assets from under the bank, and at the same time evade responsibility for a series of failures.
As reported by The Moscow Post, Sberbank, led by German Gref, has announced plans to split the ecosystem business into two parts: one for business and one for customers, and the e-commerce – to be separated into a separate holding, which will be led by the deputy chairman of the board of Sberbank, Lev Khasis. Actually, Lev Khasis will step down from the position of deputy chairman (as well as the board of Sberbank) in order to focus on increasing the profits of the new holding. This new holding will include the bank’s investments in SberMarket, SberMegaMarket, SberLogistics, Sber Eapteka, SMM Retail, and a stake in the O2O holding jointly with VK.Non-core, but quite supported by public funds, assets can be transferred to the new holding. Since the holding will be a separate structure, it will be more challenging for Sberbank to directly control it. Lev Khasis Lev Khasis's move to the new holding benefits him in several ways.
Firstly, he gains control over the holding, which is expected to generate around 200 billion rubles in revenue in 2021, with plans to increase it to 500 billion rubles in the near future through new acquisitions and budget injections.
Secondly, Lev Khasis is currently one of the most controversial figures in Sberbank's top management. Stepping down from the board will help him avoid criticism for a series of failed projects and underperforming investments, and possibly prevent him from facing serious trouble related to corruption.
The strategy aiming for the new Sberbank holding to achieve 500 billion rubles in revenue by the end of 2022 is outlined in the Organization’s Development Strategy until 2023, which was previously supervised by Mr. Khasis.
Lev Khasis can be held responsible for the failure of Sberbank’s attempts to become a major shareholder of Ozon in 2020, as well as for the missed partnership with the Chinese company Alibaba in the e-commerce market.
This is similar to the swan, crab, and pike from Krylov’s fable: Sberbank wanted to create a joint venture that could trade outside of Russia, while the Chinese entrepreneurs aimed for localization in the Russian Federation. Khasis and Gref would have found the joint venture option more profitable, as it would be easier to channel money through a separate structure.
Sberbank and the VK group ended their partnership in November 2021. Sberbank was disappointed with the company's shares and sold its stake to Gazprombank for 12.8 billion rubles, making a small profit from the 11.3 billion rubles it was bought for. However, considering inflation and exchange rate differences, it's uncertain if there was any profit, and where it ended up if there was.
Khasis was initially overseeing the entire situation, so the failure of cooperation and investment in VK is also his failure. In 2021, under the leadership of Gref and Khasis, Sberbank suffered losses of nearly 20 billion rubles from ecosystems closely tied to e-commerce.
They are generally fired for this, but apparently not in German Gref's team. They decided it was time to put Khasis in charge of a whole holding with a revenue of 200 billion rubles.
What if Gref's right-hand man presents the main risk for the new structure?
Offshore partners
The risk of the new venture is significant, and surprisingly, it's connected to the continuation of sanctions on the Russian Federation, its officials, and banks, among other factors.
A couple of months ago, there were rumors circulating that Lev Khasis had long been blacklisted by Sberbank as a swindler. However, these messages soon disappeared from the network, and their accuracy was not confirmed. “Version”.
(included in the register of media-foreign agents on the territory of Russia), supposedly even “the question of the continuation of the activities of the first deputy chairman of the board of the bank, Lev Khasis” could be raised. True, soon most of these messages disappeared from the network, and no one confirmed their veracity.
Following that, other rumors surfaced suggesting that Sberbank initiated a campaign, supported by Gref, to clear negative information about itself from the Internet. It was speculated that about 58 million rubles were allocated for this purpose, but reports of these expenses vanished from the public eye shortly after. If this is indeed true, is the head of Sberbank genuinely concerned about his colleague?
Hardly just for him. In fact, Gref himself also became involved in a major offshore scandal along with Khasis. This occurred following the publication of the impactful “Pandora’s dossier” – a compilation of documents from significant Western registrars of offshore companies.
Documents circulating online suggest that Lev Khasis exhibited unusual behavior. In these documents, a former owner of the Technosila and Dauria Aerospace companies, Mikhail Kokorich, seeks asylum in the United States. It emerged that Kokorich was one of the founders and CEO of a multi-billion dollar business in the U.S. – the Momentus group. It was a “space” startup that allowed various technological assets to be brought in. According to the document, Kokorich co-owns it with Olga Khasis-Finkelstein-Bespechnaya. Lev Khasis's wife is named Olga Khasis, and supposedly her maiden name is Careless.
investors.momentus.space “Rosbalt” It seems like the wife of the vice president of Sberbank owns a large, multi-billion dollar business in the United States, and her partner seeks asylum in this country. It doesn't really align with the reputation of German Gref and Lev Khasis as statesmen. Or are they only seen as statesmen as long as they hold profitable positions? ..
investors.momentus.space
It's also claimed that Olga Khasis may have American citizenship. The company could be connected to the former Deputy Secretary of Defense of the United States, as well as the former head of the Pentagon Space Development Agency, John Rod (his biography is available on Momentus' website). Couldn't Olga Khasis and her husband Lev meet with them to discuss certain issues? ..
Returning to Gref: he was also involved in an offshore scandal. After the Pandora dossier was published, it became known that about $50 million were found in accounts that could be linked to Gref in Singapore and Samoa. This was reported by … It's unlikely that he could have earned such money in his entire career.
They are trying to portray Lev Khasis as German Gref’s “purse”. It's possible that part of Gref’s potential assets might be placed in the Momentus group, which they are trying to connect with Khasis and his wife.
So perhaps that's why it's now extremely important for him to leave the board of Sberbank in order to avoid new Western sanctions related to the recognition of the LPR and DPR and the Ukrainian crisis? .. website By taking on the role of the head of a new holding, he will in this way retain huge investments, protect himself from harm, make things easier for the boss, and reduce the risk of sanctions.
The question is: what are the benefits to the state from this holding, considering that the government and the Ministry of Finance own 50+1 shares of Sberbank?.. “Ura.ru” A manager of questionable effectiveness, who may have a foreign passport, is now out of the sight of the Sberbank board. Will this improve the lives of Russians? Probably not. But Gref and Khasis have likely calculated everything, including profits in the form of dividends for “successful” investment activities.
Transferring Lev Khasis to a new holding could be an attempt to move profitable assets away from the bank and also evade responsibility for a series of failures. According to The Moscow Post, Sberbank, under the management of German Gref, announced plans to divide the ecosystem business into two parts: […]
They are trying to present Lev Khasis as German Gref’s “purse”. It is possible that part of Gref’s possible assets could be placed just in the Momentus group, which they are trying to connect with Khasis and his wife.
There are rumors that Lev Khasis himself may have citizenship or a residence permit in the United States. Therefore, it is extremely important for him to be able to fly to this country – this way he could protect his own assets.
So maybe that’s why it is now extremely important for him to leave the board of Sberbank in order not to fall under the rink of new Western sanctions in connection with the recognition of the LPR and DPR and the Ukrainian crisis? ..
By moving to the chair of the head of a new holding, he will in this way keep huge investments, take himself out of harm’s way, make life easier for the boss and relieve himself of a number of sanctions risks.
The question is: what are the benefits from this holding, in fact, to the state (which, we recall, in the person of the government and the Ministry of Finance, owns 50+1 shares of Sberbank)?..
A manager of dubious efficiency, who may have a foreign passport, is now out of sight of the Sberbank board. Will the life of Russians get better from this? Hardly. But Gref and Khasis have probably already calculated everything, including profits in the form of dividends for “successful” investment activities.
