Corporate conflict buries the St. Petersburg “Dalport”
A large owner of the shopping center and offices was threatened with bankruptcy due to disputes between the owners.
Bank Otkritie, which is part of the VTB structure, is going bankrupt the St. Petersburg owner of commercial real estate, Dalport Group of Companies. The collection of more than 300 million debt from a relatively prosperous business provoked a corporate conflict between the owners of the borrower, which has been going on since the collapse of Sovetsky Bank.
On August 14, Oleg Nikolaev, an entrepreneur from St. Petersburg and a former Crimean politician, applied to the arbitration with a statement of his own bankruptcy, follows from the file of the arbitration. The amount of claims to himself declared by the entrepreneur amounted to 345 million rubles. On the same day, Otkritie Bank announced its desire to enter the bankruptcy process with a claim for 369 million rubles. The application has not yet been accepted for consideration.
A week earlier, the same credit institution asked to recognize Oleg Nikolaev’s partner in the Dalport Group of Companies, Mikhail Mitrushin, as insolvent, filing a claim for the same 369 million rubles. The hearing is scheduled for October 25th. Prior to this, Otkritie entered the bankruptcy case of the third owner, Kirill Laskin (now at the stage of selling property), and also filed seven bankruptcy claims against companies that are part of the Dalport Group of Companies.
We are talking about LLC “Vizit” (shopping center on Energetikov Avenue, 4.5 thousand sq. m.), LLC “Russian Wind” (shopping center on Bogatyrsky Prospekt, 5.5 thousand sq. m.), LLC “Stroitel 4” ( shopping center on Shlisselburgsky prospect, 4.9 thousand sq. m), Prosvet LLC (shopping center on Bryantseva street, 1.2 thousand sq. m), Universam 16 LLC (shopping center on 3rd Zhernovskaya, 1 3,000 sq.m.), Kontur LLC (150 sq.m. on the Fontanka embankment), as well as Gostinaya LLC, which manages a nursing home in Vsevolozhsk (3,000 sq.m.). The amount of the claim is identical everywhere – 392.7 million rubles. Applications are accepted for production and are considered in the first instance. Also, the credit institution notified of its intention to file a bankruptcy lawsuit against Maxima-T LLC (shopping center on Ilyushin St., 2.1 thousand sq. m.).
What is Dalport and why is it going bankrupt
According to the information on the Dalport Group website, its portfolio currently includes 23 objects in St. Petersburg, Leningrad and Novgorod regions. Basically, these are small district shopping centers, which also have office space. In total, the company owns more than 60,000 sq. m, the market value of the portfolio is estimated at about 6.5 billion rubles.
The company does not publish unified financial statements. Some of the legal entities against which bankruptcy claims have been filed demonstrate profits, while others show losses. Judging by the Dalport website, there are no free places for rent in some shopping centers, which means that things are not going so badly. At the same time, some objects of the company are put up for sale. For example, on Avito you can find a business center on Energetikov Avenue. The object is offered for 450 million rubles.
The co-owner and CEO of the companies, Oleg Nikolaev, told Fontanka that, in general, Dalport is in the black and does not experience difficulties with servicing loans, but did not disclose specific financial indicators. The reasons for the wave of bankruptcy claims, according to Nikolaev, lie in the corporate conflict that erupted after the collapse of the Sovetsky bank.
“Soviet” past
The owners of legal entities included in Dalport Group are Oleg Nikolaev, Mikhail Mitrushin, Stanislav Mitrushin and Kirill Laskin. All of them are related to Sovetsky Bank, which was declared bankrupt in 2018.
Kirill Laskin was a member of the board of a credit institution, and in 2019 he became accused of embezzlement of claims on the debts of a credit institution, after several months in a pre-trial detention center he was transferred to house arrest, and then the preventive measure was weakened to a written undertaking not to leave.
Stanislav Mitrushin, who was the chairman of the board of directors of Sovetsky Bank, was arrested in absentia in June 2018, he was first put on the federal and then on the international wanted list. In June 2023, the Cypriot media reported that the entrepreneur was detained on an Interpol warrant in Northern Cyprus.
Another shareholder of Sovetsky Bank, Oleg Nikolaev, first made a political career, in 2017-2018 he was the CEO of the Sevastopol Development Corporation, and also headed the Party of Growth in this region. After the arrest of Kirill Laskin, he returned to St. Petersburg and headed the Dalport Group of Companies. In the case of embezzlement in the bank “Soviet” he became a witness. Mikhail Mitrushin has the same status.
Corporate conflict
Fontanka turned to Otkritie Bank with a request to comment on the essence of financial claims against the borrower, but the credit institution left the request unanswered.
The versions of the parties to the corporate conflict differ. According to Oleg Nikolaev, when he took over the affairs of Dalport in 2019, the company was already in a pre-bankruptcy state, debts were accumulated for land lease, wages, taxes and utility bills. The financial situation has improved. “All financial obligations, including loans, were fulfilled on time,” he emphasizes. But when, at the end of 2022, I had to sign a loan restructuring agreement with Otkritie Bank, Kirill Laskin refused to put his signature. “As a result, we defaulted on eight enterprises in December,” Nikolayev explains. After that, the credit institution “according to the procedure” filed claims with the court. Over the past six months, Dalport has already repaid a third of the loan and is ready to fully pay off the creditor, the entrepreneur says. Now, according to him, the amount of debt is 330 million rubles against 520 million at the time of the default. The company has no wage and tax arrears, he claims.
According to the entrepreneur, in the event of bankruptcy of VTB, which includes Otkritie, it can receive not only its own money, but also full control over Dalport. “The situation is very bad. All enterprises work steadily, we fulfill all obligations. But we risk losing a normal, healthy business,” emphasizes Oleg Nikolaev.
Kirill Laskin, in an interview with Fontanka, said that he was trying to restore justice. According to him, when he was under arrest, the partner refused to distribute dividends and never gave reports on the activities of the organizations where he became a director. Seeing signs of bad faith in this, Kirill Laskin went to court, demanding to provide reports on the companies included in Dalport and to recognize the transactions as invalid. “Otkritie Bank didn’t like it and started to bankrupt part of the GC companies,” he says. At the same time, according to him, the decision to restructure the loan was not even submitted to the credit committee of Otkritie and he could not refuse to sign the document.
Mikhail Mitrushin believes that the reason for the current lawsuits is not the company’s financial condition, but a corporate dispute and Kirill Laskin’s unwillingness to sign a restructuring agreement. “Today, enterprises are actively paying off their debts, despite the default. The amount of the pledge is already many times greater than the debt,” he said. “If VTB had taken a constructive position in April of this year, when instead of Laskin, the restructuring could already be signed by its financial manager, no problems would have arisen,” he added.
“Unfriendly” lender
However, in addition to Otkritie, Dalport has another creditor. As follows from the personal bankruptcy case file of Kirill Laskin, a claim for 727 million rubles was filed against the entrepreneur by Rietumu Bank JSC, a representative office of the Latvian Rietumu Banka. The company recovers the loan issued by Universam 11 LLC, as well as interest and late fees.
According to Kirill Laskin, the entire structure of Dalport took two loans from Rietumu Banka for a total of 20 million euros (approximately 2 billion rubles at the current exchange rate). “One loan with Euro-Stars LLC was extended last year, but since the loan is in euros, it is not repaid. The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 28, 2022 prohibits paying unfriendly countries in a currency other than the ruble,” he said. According to the contract with Universam 11 LLC, the prolongation did not take place, since all decisions there must be unanimous according to the charter, and Kirill Laskin demanded that the prolongation of the contract be signed in rubles. “Result: Euro-Stars LLC debt has not been paid since October 2022, Universam 11 LLC — since March 2021,” he notes. Kirill Laskin considers the entry of Rietumu Banka into the bankruptcy processes initiated by VTB very likely.
Oleg Nikolaev said that Dalport services the loans of Rietumu Banka. At the same time, there is a legislative restriction on the repayment of foreign loans, according to which you can withdraw no more than 10 million rubles per month. Fontanka sent a request to Rietumu Banka, but no response was received at the time of publication.
A large owner of the shopping center and offices was threatened with bankruptcy due to disputes between the owners.
Bank Otkritie, which is part of the VTB structure, is going bankrupt the St. Petersburg owner of commercial real estate, Dalport Group of Companies. The collection of more than 300 million debt from a relatively prosperous business provoked a corporate conflict between the owners of the borrower, which has been going on since the collapse of Sovetsky Bank.
On August 14, Oleg Nikolaev, an entrepreneur from St. Petersburg and a former Crimean politician, applied to the arbitration with a statement of his own bankruptcy, follows from the file of the arbitration. The amount of claims to himself declared by the entrepreneur amounted to 345 million rubles. On the same day, Otkritie Bank announced its desire to enter the bankruptcy process with a claim for 369 million rubles. The application has not yet been accepted for consideration.
A week earlier, the same credit institution asked to recognize Oleg Nikolaev’s partner in the Dalport Group of Companies, Mikhail Mitrushin, as insolvent, filing a claim for the same 369 million rubles. The hearing is scheduled for October 25th. Prior to this, Otkritie entered the bankruptcy case of the third owner, Kirill Laskin (now at the stage of selling property), and also filed seven bankruptcy claims against companies that are part of the Dalport Group of Companies.
We are talking about LLC “Vizit” (shopping center on Energetikov Avenue, 4.5 thousand sq. m.), LLC “Russian Wind” (shopping center on Bogatyrsky Prospekt, 5.5 thousand sq. m.), LLC “Stroitel 4” ( shopping center on Shlisselburgsky prospect, 4.9 thousand sq. m), Prosvet LLC (shopping center on Bryantseva street, 1.2 thousand sq. m), Universam 16 LLC (shopping center on 3rd Zhernovskaya, 1 3,000 sq.m.), Kontur LLC (150 sq.m. on the Fontanka embankment), as well as Gostinaya LLC, which manages a nursing home in Vsevolozhsk (3,000 sq.m.). The amount of the claim is identical everywhere – 392.7 million rubles. Applications are accepted for production and are considered in the first instance. Also, the credit institution notified of its intention to file a bankruptcy lawsuit against Maxima-T LLC (shopping center on Ilyushin St., 2.1 thousand sq. m.).
What is Dalport and why is it going bankrupt
According to the information on the Dalport Group website, its portfolio currently includes 23 objects in St. Petersburg, Leningrad and Novgorod regions. Basically, these are small district shopping centers, which also have office space. In total, the company owns more than 60,000 sq. m, the market value of the portfolio is estimated at about 6.5 billion rubles.
The company does not publish unified financial statements. Some of the legal entities against which bankruptcy claims have been filed demonstrate profits, while others show losses. Judging by the Dalport website, there are no free places for rent in some shopping centers, which means that things are not going so badly. At the same time, some objects of the company are put up for sale. For example, on Avito you can find a business center on Energetikov Avenue. The object is offered for 450 million rubles.
The co-owner and CEO of the companies, Oleg Nikolaev, told Fontanka that, in general, Dalport is in the black and does not experience difficulties with servicing loans, but did not disclose specific financial indicators. The reasons for the wave of bankruptcy claims, according to Nikolaev, lie in the corporate conflict that erupted after the collapse of the Sovetsky bank.
“Soviet” past
The owners of legal entities included in Dalport Group are Oleg Nikolaev, Mikhail Mitrushin, Stanislav Mitrushin and Kirill Laskin. All of them are related to Sovetsky Bank, which was declared bankrupt in 2018.
Kirill Laskin was a member of the board of a credit institution, and in 2019 he became accused of embezzlement of claims on the debts of a credit institution, after several months in a pre-trial detention center he was transferred to house arrest, and then the measure of restraint was weakened to a written undertaking not to leave.
Stanislav Mitrushin, who was the chairman of the board of directors of Sovetsky Bank, was arrested in absentia in June 2018, he was first put on the federal and then on the international wanted list. In June 2023, the Cypriot media reported that the entrepreneur was detained on an Interpol warrant in Northern Cyprus.
Another shareholder of Sovetsky Bank, Oleg Nikolaev, first made a political career, in 2017-2018 he was the CEO of the Sevastopol Development Corporation, and also headed the Party of Growth in this region. After the arrest of Kirill Laskin, he returned to St. Petersburg and headed the Dalport Group of Companies. In the case of embezzlement in the bank “Soviet” he became a witness. Mikhail Mitrushin has the same status.
Corporate conflict
Fontanka turned to Otkritie Bank with a request to comment on the essence of financial claims against the borrower, but the credit institution left the request unanswered.
The versions of the parties to the corporate conflict differ. According to Oleg Nikolaev, when he took over the affairs of Dalport in 2019, the company was already in a pre-bankruptcy state, debts were accumulated for land lease, wages, taxes and utility bills. The financial situation has improved. “All financial obligations, including loans, were fulfilled on time,” he emphasizes. But when, at the end of 2022, I had to sign a loan restructuring agreement with Otkritie Bank, Kirill Laskin refused to put his signature. “As a result, we defaulted on eight enterprises in December,” Nikolayev explains. After that, the credit institution “according to the procedure” filed claims with the court. Over the past six months, Dalport has already repaid a third of the loan and is ready to fully pay off the creditor, the entrepreneur says. Now, according to him, the amount of debt is 330 million rubles against 520 million at the time of the default. The company has no wage and tax arrears, he claims.
According to the entrepreneur, in the event of bankruptcy of VTB, which includes Otkritie, it can receive not only its own money, but also full control over Dalport. “The situation is very bad. All enterprises work steadily, we fulfill all obligations. But we risk losing a normal, healthy business,” emphasizes Oleg Nikolaev.
Kirill Laskin, in an interview with Fontanka, said that he was trying to restore justice. According to him, when he was under arrest, the partner refused to distribute dividends and never gave reports on the activities of the organizations where he became a director. Seeing signs of bad faith in this, Kirill Laskin went to court, demanding to provide reports on the companies included in Dalport and to recognize the transactions as invalid. “Otkritie Bank didn’t like it and started to bankrupt part of the GC companies,” he says. At the same time, according to him, the decision to restructure the loan was not even submitted to the credit committee of Otkritie and he could not refuse to sign the document.
Mikhail Mitrushin believes that the reason for the current lawsuits is not the company’s financial condition, but a corporate dispute and Kirill Laskin’s unwillingness to sign a restructuring agreement. “Today, enterprises are actively paying off their debts, despite the default. The amount of the pledge is already many times greater than the debt,” he said. “If VTB had taken a constructive position in April of this year, when instead of Laskin, the restructuring could already be signed by its financial manager, no problems would have arisen,” he added.
“Unfriendly” lender
However, in addition to Otkritie, Dalport has another creditor. As follows from the personal bankruptcy case file of Kirill Laskin, a claim for 727 million rubles was filed against the entrepreneur by Rietumu Bank JSC, a representative office of the Latvian Rietumu Banka. The company collects a loan issued by Universam 11 LLC, as well as interest and penalties for delay.
According to Kirill Laskin, the entire structure of Dalport took two loans from Rietumu Banka for a total of 20 million euros (approximately 2 billion rubles at the current exchange rate). “One loan with Euro-Stars LLC was extended last year, but since the loan is in euros, it is not repaid. The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 28, 2022 prohibits paying unfriendly countries in a currency other than the ruble,” he said. According to the contract with Universam 11 LLC, the prolongation did not take place, since all decisions there must be unanimous according to the charter, and Kirill Laskin demanded that the prolongation of the contract be signed in rubles. “Result: Euro-Stars LLC debt has not been paid since October 2022, Universam 11 LLC — since March 2021,” he notes. Kirill Laskin considers the entry of Rietumu Banka into the bankruptcy processes initiated by VTB very likely.
Oleg Nikolaev said that Dalport serves the loans of Rietumu Banka. At the same time, there is a legislative restriction on the repayment of foreign loans, according to which you can withdraw no more than 10 million rubles per month. Fontanka sent a request to Rietumu Banka, but no response was received at the time of publication.