The fight for Togliattiazot is far from over, as the High Court of Ireland may make an unexpected decision. Much depends on Leonid Bondar.
According to the correspondent The Moscow Post in the Samara regionOn February 17, auctions for the sale of a little more than 32% of the shares of PJSC Togliattiazot should take place.
Earlier, on February 8, this year, similar auctions were already held, at which 38.74% of the company’s shares were sold. The purchaser was JSC “Khimaktivinvest” of Dmitry Mazepin, the beneficiary of the companies “Uralchem” and “Uralkali”.
On the eve of the second auction, information was disseminated that, at the suggestion of the former shareholder of Togliattiazot, Sergei Makhlai, declared bankrupt, so-called “foreign investors” could appear, ready to challenge Mazepin’s actions. Thus, there is a possibility that Mazepin may still lose control over Togliattiazot.
“Dossier” on Makhlai
November 27, 2021, can be called the day when Dmitry Mazepin ended the more than 10-year struggle for Togliattiazot, one of the largest ammonia producers in the world. On this day, as reported The Moscow Post, an extraordinary meeting of shareholders of PJSC Togliattiazot was held. Based on the results of the meeting of shareholders, the board of directors of Togliattiazot was formed. It included 5 people – all representatives of UCC Uralchem JSC controlled by Dmitry Mazepin. A representative of Uralchem was also appointed General Director of the enterprise
It is noteworthy that on the eve of this event (namely, November 25, 2021), information about the death of a minority shareholder of Togliattiazot, Evgeny Sedykin, became widespread. At one time, he questioned the fairness of the fact that one of the world’s largest ammonia production enterprises became the property of the Makhlai family – first the general director of this enterprise, Vladimir Makhlai, and then his son Sergei.
Evgeny Sedykin. Photo: oboz.info
Yevgeny Sedykin filed lawsuits in courts of various jurisdictions, trying to challenge the legality of the Makhlai family’s ownership of Tolyattiazot shares. Yevgeny Sedykin, under the pseudonym “Gleb Zhiglov”, even wrote brochures – newsletters with the telling title “Privatization of a chemical giant.”
In fact, Sedykin was an invaluable supplier of critical information to the family of opponents, since he knew Vladimir Makhlai from the time when he had just moved to Tolyatti in 1985 to run Togliattiazot at full capacity. Sedykin and Makhlai then lived in neighboring apartments in the same house on the street. Zhilina, 6 in Togliatti. Sedykin also knew about all the intricacies of the primary privatization of Togliattiazot.
Did not see the triumph of Mazepin
It is quite obvious that the paths of Yevgeny Sedykin and Dmitry Mazepin were initially directed in the same direction. After all, Makhlai, managing Tolttiazot, sold its products at a price below the market, in fact, enabling friendly intermediaries to earn super profits. In turn, dealers-intermediaries sold products at a market price. This is such a simple business.
Vladimir Makhlai. Photo: vladimirmakhlay.livejournal.com
On July 5, 2019, Vladimir and Sergey Makhlai were found guilty of fraud by stealing export products, and they were sentenced to 9 years in prison each, by the verdict of the Komsomolsky District Court of Togliatti, issued on July 5, 2019, the civil claim of Evgeny Sedykin was satisfied. The court indicated that Makhlai, as well as other convicts in this case, jointly and severally must pay Yevgeny Sedykin 165 thousand rubles. According to the same verdict, the civil claim of UCC Uralchem JSC for the recovery of more than 87.6 billion rubles from the convicts was satisfied. The verdict entered into force on November 26, 2019, as I wrote The Moscow Post.
Dmitry Mazepin. Photo: rbc.ru
Apparently, after the announcement of this verdict, the life paths of Sedykin and Mazepin diverged. November 25 edition “Samara Review”commenting on the death of Yevgeny Sedykin, in particular, reported: “The most famous“ raider ”of Togliatti, Yevgeny Sedykin, has died. Sedykin attacked Togliattiazot (formerly) and the Uralchem group (recently), and with the ex-director of ToAZ, Vladimir Makhlai dreamed of drinking world peace. This will not happen again.”
Makhlai does not give up
But Dmitry Mazepin with the death of Yevgeny Sedykin is unlikely to be able to calm down.
Yes, the shares of Togliattiazot, previously owned by Sergey Makhlai, who was declared bankrupt, are put up for auction. By the way, the fact that Sergey Makhlai was declared bankrupt, and all his property was seized by the Arbitration Court of the Samara Region on August 11, 2021, reported The Moscow Post
Yes, structures controlled by Dmitry Mazepin will most likely acquire both blocks of shares in 32 and 38.74%. But Sergei Makhlai, it seems, is not going to give up.
Sergei Makhlai. Photo: apn.ru
According to the publication Forbes, there are other contenders for the stake in Togliattiazot, already acquired by Dmitry Mazepin’s Khimaktivinvest. Forbes specified that at the end of December 2021, the Cypriot company Nitrogeno United Group (NUG) stated that concluded with a certain group of shareholders of Togliattiazot under the code name “BKIT” (the name is an abbreviation and consists of the names of four companies: Bairiki, Kamara, Instantania, Trafalgar) a binding agreement (SPA) on the purchase of a majority stake in the enterprise. “The agreement was signed with the participation of a major foreign investor, a specialized international consortium headquartered in Abu Dhabi,” NUG representatives admitted in Forbes comments. The features of the relationship between the persons involved in this story were also detailed in the journal “Expert”.
As Forbes found out, the Cypriot company NUG, registered in April 2021, has a Russian “double” – United Nitrogen Group LLC (OAG), registered back in June 2020 in Krasnodar. Both companies have the same beneficiary – Leonid Bondar. “Bondar confirmed the existence of SPA to Forbes. According to him, the mentioned foreign investor is the Arab-Indonesian fund Bright East, headquartered in the UAE capital, which is ready to pay for the purchase,” Forbes clarifies.
Beneficiary behind bars
From a slightly different angle, the situation with supposedly Arab-Indonesian investors of Togliattiazot was examined by other sources. According to the authors of the telegram channel VChK-OGPU, allegedly neither the NUG nor the OAS have any business history. From the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, it follows that the OAG did not conduct economic activities until 2021 inclusive and handed over a zero balance sheet.
In 2020, Leonid Bondar, who is the beneficiary of both companies, was released from a 7-year sentence in a colony, where he ended up after being sentenced under part 4 of article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (large-scale fraud committed by a group of persons by prior agreement). According to all the same authors of the telegram channel VChK-OGPUallegedly Bondar and his accomplices were engaged in the manufacture of counterfeit bank bills and illegally enriched themselves by cashing them for several tens of millions of rubles.
Thus, the veracity of the version of events described by Leonid Bondar (about the Arab-Indonesian fund Bright East) should be doubted. However, such stories can be believed in the High Court of Ireland, which back in February 2020 banned Russian companies that were only allegedly involved in events related to Togliattiazot from participating in share auctions. Dmitry Mazepin apparently ignored this ban. Now it remains to wait and see how the Irish court will respond to this.
Recall that he is considering the Togliattiazot case, due to the fact that the Uralchem group of companies, of which Mazepin is the beneficiary, is registered in Cyprus. Accordingly, this is not really a Russian company, it is under the jurisdiction of the High Court of Ireland and, in general, in the area of English law. By the way, other TOAZ shareholders are also legal entities and individuals from various countries. This is how the “defendant international” turned out.
