At whose expense “Motor” for “Donstroy”?
Has the Roscosmos asset come under the control of a developer associated with the head of VTB? Associated with Donstroy, the company Specialized Developer Makeeva became the owner of a land plot in the Presnensky district of Moscow, where the Motor design bureau, a branch of the Center for the Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure (TsENKI) controlled by Roscosmos, is located today.
The forthcoming change of the owner of the territory became known back in December 2021, when it turned out that the Makeeva SZ was registered at the same address as the Motor Design Bureau. As a result of the scandal, the developer hastily changed its legal address, “registering” it on the underground floor of house No. 70 on the street. Mosfilmovskaya. Information about the previous “registration” was “cleaned” from the Internet, but on the net you can still find announcements about the upcoming start of the sale of real estate in the residential complex on the street. Makeeva, 7. As a result, the sale of the object had to be postponed for almost a year: the corresponding deal was closed only last December. Negotiations between the management of Roskosmos and the head of VTB Andrei Kostin, whose interests are associated with Donstroy, could contribute to a positive decision. It is known that back in 2009, the state bank bought a controlling stake in the developer for a symbolic amount of 500 rubles from its founders Maxim Blazhko and Dmitry Zelenov. Then projects in the field of residential real estate were transferred to the Don-Stroy Invest company, which the media called “a subsidiary of VTB Bank.” The company itself denied affiliation with the state bank, but it is known that its CEO Alena Deryabina was previously among the top managers of VTB. Businessman Arkady Ilyaguev, who acted as a business partner of the Donstroy structures, is also associated with the credit institution. Financial support from VTB and Kostin’s connections can help the developer to implement the next projects, despite his scandalous fame, numerous complaints about the quality of housing, the work of the management company, and even the incident with the death of a person in one of the elite residential complexes.
The assets of Roskosmos “left” to the “Donstroy”
Specialized Developer Makeeva LLC, controlled by the Donstroy development company, became the owner of a land plot of about 6 hectares located on the street. Sergei Makeev in the Presnensky district of Moscow. Currently, the Motor Design Bureau, a branch of the Center for the Operation of Ground-Based Space Infrastructure Facilities (TsENKI), which is part of the state corporation Roscosmos, is located here.
The market value of the site is about 11-13 billion rubles. According to Vedomosti experts, a residential complex with a total area of up to 230 thousand square meters can be built here. Investments in the project are estimated at 25-30 billion rubles, sales revenue – at 110-120 billion. The publication of the publication emphasizes that until August 2024, Motor Design Bureau will remain the tenant of the territory it occupies. That is, the structure of “Donstroy” will not remain in the loser, and will receive profit in the form of rental payments.
Kompromat Group wrote about the impending sale of the Roskosmos asset back in December 2021. Then the media drew attention to the registration at the same address with the design bureau of a newly formed legal entity – the aforementioned SZ Makeeva LLC, the founder of which was the Don-Stroy Invest company. After the press started talking about a possible change in the owner of the object, the developer quickly changed its official address, “re-registering” on the underground floor of house No. 70 on the street. Mosfilmovskaya. “Moved to the basement, literally,” stated the network.
The data on the previous place of registration of the SZ “Makeyeva” turned out to be cleared, however, with announcements about the upcoming start of real estate sales in the residential complex on the street. Sergei Makeev, 7, can still be found on the Internet. The text of one of them, posted on the Novostroy-M portal, says:
“The construction of a new facility is planned… Details and documentation on the project will appear on our portal immediately after the publication of official information from the developer.”
Development funded by the state bank?
There was a problem with the promised “documentation for the project”: reports of the upcoming sale of the Roscosmos site, apparently, forced the parties to “slow down” the deal, closing it only a year later – last December. Today, RIA “Nedvizhimost” writes that development structures have been actively interested in the territory of “Motor” over the past few years. In this context, we should recall the messages of the telegram channels, from which it followed: Donstroy ordered an assessment of the territory of the Design Bureau back in 2019.
Thus, there could well have been some long-standing agreements between the developer and the management of the state corporation, which were not at all affected by last year’s resignation of Dmitry Rogozin and the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov to replace him. True, to date, a change of owner has occurred in the Makeeva SZ: since October 2022, DS-Group LLC, created in the same month, has become such.
As for Don-Stroy Invest, this structure is in the process of liquidation. At the end of 2021, with revenue of 7.8 billion rubles, its profit was only 1 million. For comparison: a year earlier, having received revenue in the amount of 22.3 billion rubles, the developer declared a loss of 6.2 billion. The question is: where does the money for the purchase and new large-scale construction come from with such financial indicators?
You can answer this question if you remember that the media have repeatedly associated Donstroy with VTB Bank and its head Andrei Kostin. It was the state bank, as the main creditor, that in August 2009 bought out a controlling stake in the developer for a symbolic sum of 500 rubles from its founders Maxim Blazhko and Dmitry Zelenov. Thus, it was possible to resolve the issue of restructuring the company’s debt, which exceeded $500 million.
The parties also agreed on the division of projects. As Interfax reported, Don-Stroy Invest became the head structure of a group of companies implementing projects in the field of residential real estate, while Blazhko and Zelenov, remaining shareholders of Donstroy, should have focused on commercial real estate, having received additional project financing from VTB in the amount of up to 500 million dollars.
Businessmen were also given an option to repurchase shares of Don-Stroy Invest in the event of a reduction in debt obligations “to a minimum.” Both merchants officially left the number of co-owners of JSC IC Donstroy only in June 2021, and there is no information about who they are today in open sources.
Banker Kostina and his “confidants”
In one of the publications, the RBC portal called Don-Stroy Invest a “subsidiary of VTB Bank.” The company itself has repeatedly denied affiliation with a credit institution. So, back in 2017, the general director of the developer Alena Deryabina stated that five legal entities are its official owners, but the state bank is not one of them. At the same time, Ms. Deryabina herself, who became CEO and Chairman of the Board of Don-Stroy Invest in 2010, previously held the positions of Advisor to the Vice President, Head of Non-Financial Assets and Vice President of VTB. Since last October, she has been managing the newly created DS-Group LLC, the new owner of the Makeeva SZ.
So, while maintaining the appearance of distance, Kostin may well influence the policy of the developer through his former top manager? Perhaps it was he who acted as the second party, negotiating with the leadership of Roskosmos on the account of the deal with the Motor site? But for the media, the financial ties between the bank and the developer have long ceased to be a secret:
“All Donstroy Invest residential projects are currently being implemented in partnership with VTB Bank,” Vedomosti wrote in July 2017.
The presence of a certain control on the part of the credit institution is evidenced by the fact that the shares of the founders of a number of commercial structures affiliated with Donstroy were or are still pledged to VTB. These include, for example, the companies “DS Stroy” and the Specialized Developer “Razvitie”.
Returning to the aforementioned DS-Group LLC, it should be noted that its official founder is the Closed Share Investment Combined Fund Financial Perspective, which is managed by the KL-Invest Management Company. The latter belongs equally to Arkady Ilyaguev and Anastasia Kushnirenko. Ilyaguev is a former member of the board of directors of the Moscow Metallurgical Plant Sickle and Hammer, one of whose shareholders was the Bank of Moscow, which ceased to exist in May 2016 after joining VTB. The former Hammer and Sickle sites came under the control of Don-Stroy Invest, which in December 2021 sold part of the factory area in the Entuziastov Highway area to businessman Andrei Stepanov.
In addition, at various times Ilyaguev was directly connected with the Donstroy structures. In particular, he was the founder of Naftainvest LLC, liquidated last year, whose successor was the developer, acted as a co-owner of KL Development LLC and Fresh LLC affiliated with the developer. Through the management company “KL-Invest”, its “subsidiary” structure JSC “Investpartner” and the plant “Sickle and Hammer”, Ilyaguev’s connections with the construction company “Stroyinvestgroup”, which together with “Donstroy” participated in the construction of the residential complex “Subbota” near the Belorussky railway station, are traced .
Perhaps Ilyaguev is another confidant of the banker Kostin, who is trying not to “shine”, to whom all the “threads” of Donstroy lead by themselves?
Will the PIK place be empty?
VTB directly acts as a shareholder of another development group, PIK, whose CEO until September last year was held by its infamous founder Sergei Gordeev, who allegedly also once showed interest in the territory of KB Motor. Back in 2019, the state bank controlled 23.05% of PIK Group. In addition, VTB owned an 18.75% stake in PJSC PIK – a specialized developer, but in October last year, the credit institution reduced its share to 12.37%.
This happened shortly after Gordeev’s departure from his post and the appointment of his former first deputy, Ivan Polandov, as the general director. Gordeev himself announced that he intends to deal with issues of corporate governance and strategic development of the company, including new technological areas. The media regularly write about scandals related to the activities of the PIK structures, about the quality of housing being built by the group and the specific features of the management of apartment buildings. But the “change of power” did not help, and last October Polandov received a harsh scolding from Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin for failing to complete the school in the Lublinsky Park residential complex. The angry mayor even threatened the group with a ban on construction within the capital.
For Kostin, the incident was definitely not the most pleasant. Although in fairness it should be noted that quite a few scandalous stories are also connected with the objects of Donstroy. For example, back in 2010, the Moscow authorities announced their intention to demolish several illegally built upper floors of the Dom na Mosfilmovskaya residential complex, whose readiness was estimated at 95%. Gazeta.Ru called Yuri Luzhkov the initiator of the dismantling of the squatter, but a year later, Sergei Sobyanin, who became the new mayor, decided not to demolish the upper floors of the skyscraper.
In 2015-2016 activists of the Arkhnadzor movement and representatives of the deputies protested against the demolition by Donstroy of the Pogodinskaya residential building complex located in the area of the Sportivnaya metro station, built in the 1920s. of the last century and representing a single constructivist ensemble together with the “Kauchuk” club. But, despite public dissatisfaction, the developer began dismantling the quarter to build another residential complex on its territory.
On specialized sites and forums, you can find numerous complaints from equity holders and new settlers about the delay in putting houses into operation, the quality of housing, the work of the management company, etc. Simply put, the claims are the same as against the PIK group. In January 2016, 36-year-old Irina Volodina died in the Scarlet Sails residential complex built by Don-Stroy Invest and considered an elite residential complex as a result of a cable break and an elevator fall.
The residents had big complaints about the operation of the houses, about the current repairs – there are more problems than it should be for the money we pay. 5 years ago, there was a massive collapse of facing brickwork from the 20th floor in the house. Thank God, then no one was hurt, ”one of the residents told TASS correspondents.
Apparently, the risk to life has long been considered a sign of elitism. But “Donstroy” continues its activities, and its structures receive new territories for development, and in the case of KB “Motor” this process was accompanied by “gray” schemes and behind-the-scenes agreements. In the meantime, the head of VTB Andrey Kostin acts as a kind of “guarantor of success”, Alena Deryabina and Arkady Ilyaguev register new commercial structures for the next billion-dollar projects.