The Arbitration Court of the Saratov Region imposed interim measures on cash, as well as on the movable and immovable property of the main owner of the Rusagro agricultural holding Vadim Moshkovich and the former general director of the company Maxim Basov, as well as the property of Rusagro itself in the amount of 21.9 billion rubles. It follows from the materials of the court proceedings that the arrest was made as part of the bankruptcy case of the Volzhsky Terminal company.
Volzhsky Terminal was previously part of the Solnechnye Produkty oil and fat holding (part of Vladislav Burov’s Buket group of companies). Volzhsky Terminal owns an oil extraction plant, a river terminal and an elevator. It produces more than 760 tons of oil per day, according to the company’s website. Rights of claim of Rosselkhozbank to Solnechnye Produkty in the amount of 34.7 billion rubles. acquired Rusagro a few years ago. After that, the bankruptcy of the holding’s assets began.
Volzhsky Terminal was declared insolvent by the court in July 2019. As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, Rusagro bought out its property complex in 2021 for 11.5 billion rubles. But the bankruptcy trustee of the Volzhsky Terminal, Ivan Baskov, and another creditor of the company, Cinco Trade (part of the Cinco Group), filed a lawsuit to bring its controlling persons to subsidiary liability. The court materials say that it is being considered in relation to Moshkovich, Basov and Rusagro itself.
The company’s debt to Cinco Trade is more than 200 million rubles. under the contract for the supply of sunflower seeds, says the executive director of the Cinco Group of Companies Sergey Sadivankin. According to him, it is impossible to return the debt without the arrest of funds and property: Rusagro, as a secured creditor, receives up to 80% of the sale of property, and the rest goes to pay the current costs of the bankruptcy procedure. So far, the company has received only 11 million rubles. Interim measures should ensure that the remaining part of the debt is covered by the persons controlling the debtor, he explains. According to Sadivankin, the company is satisfied with the court decision, and hopes that this will allow them to receive their funds.
If the full repayment of creditors’ claims is impossible due to the activities of the person controlling the debtor, then the law provides for an exceptional mechanism for restoring the violated rights of creditors by bringing such person to subsidiary liability for the obligations of the debtor, the court says. The ruling may be appealed.
The representative of Rusagro did not answer the questions of Vedomosti. Basov told Vedomosti that he considers the arrest unreasonable and is sure that it will be canceled soon.
Rusagro is one of the largest Russian agricultural holdings. In addition to the oil and fat business, he is also engaged in the production of sugar, pork, and crop production. Moshkovich owns 57% of the holding, Basov – 8%.
Another major shareholder is the brother of the Governor of the Moscow Region Maxim Vorobyov. His Amereus Group fund acquired 6.1% in a secondary public offering (SPO) of global depositary receipts (GDRs) of the group’s parent company last September. As a result, its share increased to 10.1%. Sadivankin did not explain why an application for bringing him to subsidiary liability was not filed against him.
In a recent interview with Vedomosti, Basov said that Rusagro had already bought out all the assets of Solnechnye Produkty, including the Volga Terminal, and was working on them as an owner. As a result of the transaction, the company became the largest producer of crude sunflower oil in Russia, the second largest producer of industrial fats and improved its position in the mayonnaise market, Basov said. “From the segment of secondary importance, the oil and fat segment of Rusagro became the largest in terms of revenue – last year it amounted to 76 billion rubles. This is 4 times more than in 2017, when the group did not yet have any assets of Solar Products,” he explained. In the structure of revenue last year, its share was 44%. And in the first nine months of 2021, it increased to 57%. Basov himself has not been working at Rusagro since January 1, 2022; Timur Lipatov, who previously headed Power Machines, has become his successor.
Attempts to seize property are standard practice in disputes over subsidiary liability, says Dmitry Kletochkin, lawyer at Rustam Kurmaev & Partners. The purpose of this measure is to prevent the withdrawal of assets. But it is necessary to prove that there is such a risk. Otherwise, this arrest will be easily challenged.