Billion-dollar dividends from PhosAgro owner Andrei Guryev can be withdrawn from Russia to the United States, and he himself can become a defendant in a criminal case in Latvia.
In early November, amid the current economic crisis and sanctions restrictions, Phosagro Group paid its shareholders multibillion-dollar dividends for the first half of 2022.
If you believe them, then the Guryev family should receive 48.4 billion rubles, i.e. almost $ 800 million. Not bad, especially against the background of the fact that in Latvia a criminal case is being investigated against the company's shareholders.
For details, see The Moscow Post correspondent.
According to some reports, Andrey Guryev may be out of the country and live in the 25-room Witanhurst Palace in London, and, at the same time, receive multi-billion dollar dividends from Russian business. Sources claim that, allegedly, the sanctions help him to bypass British residents Alexei Motlokhov and John Hall.
It looks unpatriotic, especially given the information that the beneficiaries of PhosAgro may be renaming their structures. In various jurisdictions, firms with the name Purefert appear, which so far only bashfully mention that they are the exclusive distributors of PhosAgro (We are the only distributor of chemicals produced by PhosAgro).
At the same time, as follows from the Cyprus Register of Legal persons, the Purefert structure is registered in the USA. Isn't that where the company's dividends earned in Russia go? But it is the United States that insists on sanctions for the Russian chemical industry.
Photo: https://efiling.drcor.mcit.gov.cy/DrcorPublic/SearchResults.aspx?name= %25&number=140840&searchtype=optStartMatch&index=1&tname=%25&sc=0
Lately, the prices for chemicals and fertilizers produced by PhosAgro have been a real phantasmagoria – they are growing, especially against the backdrop of the emerging food crisis and logistical problems associated with sanctions on Russian products.
It did not start Now – back in early 2021, the Government hinted that fertilizer prices could fall under the control of officials. This was done against the backdrop of a similar bacchanalia with the prices of sugar and a number of other goods.
At the same time, in the same year, farmers complained that there was not enough mineral fertilizers in the free sale, as well as about rising prices for chemicals. Apparently, Western markets for Guryev & Co turned out to be more priority. Colossal profits – for the past two years, the Guryevs have not left the top of the richest Russian families, surpassing even the Gutserievs.
In 2022, the Guryevs were the only ones who not only did not sink amid the crisis, but also increased their capital (+$2, 12 billion). RBC writes about it. Apparently, the reason was again the rise in food prices, in the production of which phosphate fertilizers are strictly necessary.
Igor Sychev is under threat
However, not all shareholders or people close to PhosAgro benefited from the company's success. We are talking about the former top manager of the group Igor Sychev (headed the taxation department of the structure), who left the structure in the mid-1910s, but considered himself deceived.
We managed to find a document on the Web that can be interpreted as one of the materials some criminal case opened on the basis of the application of Igor Sychev or his representatives in Latvia, probably against Andrey Guryev or his people.
According to the authors who posted it, Mr. Sychev allegedly receives threats to his life and health, including his family, due to an old conflict with the company.
Allegedly, the side of the defendants (whose representative is named a man by the name of Kondratiev) demands to reduce the size of Guryev's claims to the structure. There is a lot of incomprehensible in the situation, and there is no official information about this. The document provides a transcript of alleged calls (or just conversations – audio recordings) from Kondratiev to Mr. Sychev with veiled threats. -img” loading=”lazy” title=”Andrey Guryev and an offer you can't refuse” type=”image/png” alt=”Andrey Guryev and an offer you can't refuse” />
Photo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1noyHFxR9LPLqQuOR8ZMaor9umw2Yoc3W/view
What could be the reason is easy to guess. In 2017, Igor Sychev and his Belize offshore Verlox International filed a lawsuit against Andrey Guryev Sr., a minority shareholder of the structure Igor Antoshin, PhosAgro itself, as well as offshore companies Parmas Corporation and Avec Ltd. associated with them at that time.
Guryev demanded to transfer to him 1% of the company's shares or pay their cost (at the time of filing the lawsuit – $55.8 million on the London Stock Exchange), as well as $8 million in cash for services rendered by PhosAgro to resolve tax disputes. Forbes writes about the situation.
PhosAgro considered Sychev's claims to be far-fetched and unfounded, they don't like to remember this judicial history at all. At the same time, it does not seem to be completed, and the representatives of the Guryevs could come up with an “original” way to calm down a former colleague, as a result of which he could turn to law enforcement agencies.
Translated fragment from the document: this is allegedly an audio recording of a call to Mr. Sychev with further threats. Photo: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1noyHFxR9LPLqQuOR8ZMaor9umw2Yoc3W/view
Judging by everything, Sychev is in Latvia, because he did not manage to find the truth in his homeland. But for the company, Sychev, who began to deal with tax issues, did a lot.
The largest case is the contestation of tax claims against OAO Apatit (part of the structure of PhosAgro) in the amount of 17 billion rubles in the framework of the Yukos case. After an 8-year legal battle, the company received compensation of 300 million rubles. After this success, Igor Sychev was promised a reward of 1% of PhosAgro shares for his services.
But the management of the holding did not begin to document the promises, and when Sychev left the company, a conflict broke out – he was left with virtually nothing. And after demands from his side, searches of the security forces raided his apartment in Moscow. Komsomolskaya Pravda writes about this story.
This, of course, is far from the only PhosAgro dispute related to shares. In 2021, in Britain, the London court considered the lawsuit of PhosAgro co-founder Alexander Gorbachev against Andrey Guryev, demanding to recognize his right to 24.75% of the shares of the structure. The amount of Gorbachev's claim is 160.5 billion rubles. The Free Press writes about this.
At the same time, Gorbachev already tried to achieve justice in Cyprus through the courts in 2015. He filed a lawsuit demanding that Guryev and former member of the board of directors Igor Antoshin misappropriate 24.75% of the shares. and Latvian justice, but such behavior of the Guryevs may cause bewilderment only among those who are not familiar with the history of the company.
The PhosAgro company appeared in 2001 on the basis of the chemical assets of Group Menatep. Andrei Guryev (senior) oversaw these assets, but they belonged to Yukos. Guryev was considered a business partner of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who had been convicted and fled the country (recognized as a foreign agent on the territory of the Russian Federation, included in the list of terrorists and extremists).
When the law enforcement officers came to the latter, the ex-head of Menatep ” Platon Lebedev, later also sentenced to 10.5 years for embezzlement, tax evasion, legalization of stolen funds.
The company of businessmen, considering Andrey Guryev, it should be noted, is quite colorful. And their methods of work, apparently, were the same. Perhaps the “hit” on Sychev with probable threats, just a “burp” of that era.
However, the fact is that Andrey Guryev himself was “on the edge” in that scandal. Moreover, he managed to buy out the Menatepa chemical holding for $200 million. Did he already participate in some gray schemes with the above citizens?
Andrey Guryev Sr. thinks he's caught God by the beard, but doesn't get out of court proceedings? Photo: Forbes.com/PHOTO BY COURTESY ANDREI GURIEV
Today, PhosAgro is almost a monopoly on the Russian market of phosphate fertilizers. But nevertheless, the company wants more – in 2021 it placed bonds for $500 million, and this is not the first time.
However, here is the catch: many try to imagine PhosAgro almost A financial pyramid that can buy out old debts through new placements. However, due to the sharp rise in food prices, there may not be a need for this, so the Guryevs ride like cheese in butter. Not counting the numerous lawsuits with echoes from the distant 90s.