2024-04-25 16:06:46
According to him, the contribution of authorized capital in this case is not necessary, and establishing a company for such a purchase is a fairly common practice not only in Russia.
“No (data about the company did not raise suspicions – ELTA). In Lithuania, Vilnius, Kaunas or elsewhere, almost always, when a larger real estate object is developed, a fresh, new UAB is almost always established for it. (…) It is not necessary to contribute the authorized capital and the fact that the company is fresh does not change anything”, said D. Matijošaitis in the program “ELTA Kampas”.
“Shareholders contribute their share as a loan that is automatically pledged to the bank, all the shares are also pledged to the bank and it manages the whole process related to the money. The fact that a company was established for this purchase is not some unusual practice, a lot of people do this, whether it is in Russia, Lithuania, or the USA,” he explained, noting that the final beneficiaries are the two businessmen who “stand” behind the aforementioned company.
The Russian publication Kommersant announced that Gruppa Okean may act in the interests of Unifrost, a large fish and seafood importer, but D. Matijošaitis could neither confirm nor deny this.
He noted that the Lithuanian mass media chooses to quote Russian information media only when they contain “spoken nonsense about Vičiūnis”.
“Whether it’s a lie, whether it’s an exaggeration, or the truth, I really can’t say, I don’t fly under blankets and sheets. Whose building or relative we will not do this homework”, said the Vičiūnai Group board member.
“This rumor about Unifrost comes from the same Russia. (…) The Lithuanian media do not quote what is inconvenient, the Russian media do not quote them, because they talk nonsense, but when they published some kind of gossip about “Vičiūnus”, then we accept it at face value. (…) De facto, de jure and in a completely different way we see those two persons as buyers, final beneficiaries. (…) We checked, they have nothing to do with sanctions,” he noted.
A member of the board of “Vičiūnai Group” said half a year ago that he no longer believed that the factory in Kaliningrad would be sold, but, he added, the situation changed during negotiations with a fourth potential buyer.
“If we are honest, half a year ago, in the fall, when we started the fourth attempt (to sell the Vičiūnai factory in Kaliningrad – ELTA), our hands were slack enough. We no longer believed that the sale of the business would succeed. Companies hundreds of times larger are not able to successfully sell anything, some do not even plan to sell,” D. Matijošaitis assured.
“We’ve reached that stage with them, we’ve got confirmation from the bank that the financing is secured, that they have their share and the bank is paying them the rest.” A program for good conditions for local entrepreneurs was launched in the country, 80 percent. the bank provides financing to purchase the business,” he said.
D. Matijošaitis finally stated that two natural persons, local businessmen, are “standing” behind Gruppa Okean, whom he has not personally seen.
“They automatically didn’t need that much of their share, we received all the documents, two natural persons, we mentioned one woman in the press release (Marija Bucharova – ELTA), who is both a shareholder and a director, she signed everything at a notary, but there is also another natural person the person who wrote it down. But these are some kind of local businessmen, I have not personally seen any of them, nor any of the first three candidates to buy,” said a member of the Vičiūnai Group board.
ELTA reminds that after Kaunas Mayor Visvaldas Matijošaitis promised for almost two years about the withdrawal of “Vičiūnai Group” from Russia, last week the company confirmed the sale of the factory in Kaliningrad to the company “Ocean Group”.
As representatives of “Vičiūnai Group” reported on Friday, the company sold a factory operating in the Kaliningrad region and logistics and trading companies located in seven states.
Through this transaction, the Russian company Gruppa Okean acquired the right to use the VIČI trademark in the territory of the CIS countries.
To avoid confusion, it is announced that the Lithuanian VIČI will be gradually transformed by expanding the Vičiūnai Group brand portfolio.
“Vičiūnų grupė” indicates that the value of the transaction is not published by agreement of the parties.
The company indicates that when the sale process started in the summer of 2022, 15 applicants submitted preliminary offers to repurchase the business, 8 of which were non-Russian companies.
2024-04-25 16:06:46