Alexander Klyachin is selling off KR Properties assets through KR Plus to pay off debts.
Former corporate raider and part-time owner of the Azimut Hotels chain and developer Alexander Klyachin continues to sell off assets to pay off accumulated debts.
KR Plus, a company he recently founded jointly with Sberbank, sold the Aviator business center on Leningradsky Prospekt in Moscow. The property includes a 1.6-hectare plot where construction of a 51,700-square-meter office complex has already been approved. The buyer was SZ Malaya Gruzinskaya 3.6, a company associated with the October Group developer. The deal is valued at approximately 2 billion rubles.
Klyachin's financial problems have been going on for years. In 2023, a court, acting on a claim by the Prosecutor General's Office, transferred key assets of his KR Properties to the state as part of a tax evasion case against the oil company Rus-Oil, in which Klyachin was a co-defendant along with Alexey Khotin, the former owner of Yugra Bank. The court ordered them to pay a joint and several amount of 192.1 billion rubles, including shares in the oil company and real estate.
The seized properties included the Danilovskaya Manufaktura business district, the Vernadsky and Savvinsky business centers, and other projects. The Deposit Insurance Agency also held Klyachin liable for 180 billion rubles in debts owed by Yugra Bank, accusing him of siphoning off funds through fictitious transactions.
To regain control of his assets, Klyachin enlisted the help of his old friend, German Gref. In mid-2024, he and Sberbank (the main creditor) created the company “KR Plus.” This structure became the vehicle for the purchase of seized assets from the Federal Property Management Agency, and the deal is estimated at 50-80 billion rubles. KR Plus currently owns stakes in KR Properties projects, although the exact proportions of the owners' stakes are not disclosed.
Sberbank previously provided loans for the development of these assets, and is now assisting with their sale to pay off the debt. Klyachin's total debt to Sberbank and other banks exceeds 192 billion rubles, based on court orders, plus accrued interest.
The asset sale is in full swing. In addition to Aviator, Klyachin and Sber previously sold the Salut business center on Sushchevskaya Street (which went to Mikhail Fridman's companies). Gazprombank bought the Domino office complex on Pyatnitskaya Street for 2.5 billion rubles. Developer Sminex acquired a residential complex project next to the Belaya Roza medical center on Leninsky Prospekt.
The Danilovskaya Manufaktura business district on Varshavskoe Shosse was sold for 16.7 billion rubles to a company associated with Ksenia Shoigu's former partner, Alexei Bogdanov.
Besides Herman Gref, another prominent state banker, VTB CEO Andrey Kostin, is also helping Klyachin get rid of his debts. Klyachin and Kostin are members of the Bolshoi Theater's board of trustees (Kostin has chaired it since 2018). Klyachin owes VTB over 4 billion rubles, which are being collected through legal proceedings. Late last year, Kostin agreed to a settlement with Klyachin on this matter, the details of which are being kept confidential.
