Could the sudden accident and bankruptcy lawsuit against the Belgorod company Mushrooms Belogorya have been planned in advance in order to prepare it for sale?
According to the correspondent MorningNews“Sberbank” demanded to declare bankrupt the mushroom growing complex LLC “Mushrooms Belogorya”, located near Belgorod.
The amount of the loan on which the debt has accumulated is 243 million rubles. At the same time, as reported “Kommersant”, the bank itself does not yet rule out “the possibility of resolving the conflict.” Apparently, a lawsuit in this case is a method of putting pressure on the debtor, and just a couple of years ago, this could hardly have happened, because this project enjoyed sympathy from the ex-governor of the Belgorod Region Yevgeny Savchenko. However, times have changed.
“Gribnikov” summed up the accident
According to “Kommersant”, the company explains that the debt was formed due to an accident that occurred at the enterprise not so long ago and resulted in forced downtime. Director of the enterprise Karolina Ukolova explains that a serious accident happened in July 2021.
Then, together with the raw materials, parasites were brought in, which could not be eliminated with the help of insecticides, and all compost had to be removed from the enterprise and deep disinfection should be carried out. Losses amounted to 22 million rubles. After that, the enterprise was launched again, two chambers for growing mushrooms were loaded (there are 12 of them at the enterprise in total), and they began to harvest. But at that time there were not enough funds to pay off the loan, so debts began to pile up.
“Mushrooms of Belogorye” were created in a depressed area and were supposed to become an impetus for its development
Consideration of the claim is scheduled for March 16 in the regional Arbitration Court. Kommersant also reported, citing the press service of the Central Black Earth Bank Sberbank, that Belogorye Mushrooms had “difficulties in servicing the debt,” but the bank “is ready to discuss the terms of the settlement and believes that there is a possibility of fulfilling obligations.”
Is everything really so critical for a company that just a couple of years ago was proudly called the “calling card of the Belgorod region”? Or did Sberbank simply decide to arrange a “demonstrative flogging” of the company so that it would be discourteous for other debtors to avoid paying a loan under the pretext of a global economic crisis? ..
System of “mushroom” development
According to Rusprofile, Belogorya Mushrooms LLC was registered in 2016 in the Belgorod Region. Authorized capital – 10 thousand rubles. The main activity of the company is “cultivation of mushrooms and truffles”. 50% of LLC belongs to Pavel Kolesnikov, 50% – to Vadim Skavronsky. In 2020, the company’s revenue amounted to 45.9 million rubles, the loss was 58.7 million rubles. Mr. Skavronsky is also the founder of the Belgorod LLC “Smiley”, “Zdorov Ya” and “Healthy Ya”. The founders, apparently, participated in the “mushroom affairs” only from time to time.
The company has already changed owners. Previously, it belonged to the local Expertproektstroy LLC, co-founded with a 26% share by Agro-Belogorye Group of Companies Vladimir Zotov. In 2018, Belogorye Mushrooms became the property of Pavel Kolesnikov and Vadim Skavronsky.
Evgeny Savchenko is unique in his own way, as he led one region for 27 years
There is a strong feeling that the position of the company in the region has changed somewhat after the resignation of the former governor Evgeny Savchenko and his departure to the Federation Council in Moscow. After these events, the authority of the “mushroom pickers” could decrease.
Savchenko’s resignation took place in September 2020. Prior to that, Savchenko “ruled” the region for 27 years! Unprecedented experience for the governors of Russian regions. Obviously, by the end of the “Savchenko era”, a personal acquaintance with him was equated to a big win in the lottery.
Government failed to meet expectations
Just a month before his resignation, Governor Savchenko paid a working visit to Belogorye Mushrooms LLC and positively assessed the work of the company, as well as its plans for further development, and also noted that the creation of this company on one of the most depressed sites in the Belgorod region is a good help the city.
The CEO of the company (then it was Pavel Sapozhnikov), according to the publication “World of Belogorye”, asked the governor for support in the development of the sales market and, in general, the culture of consumption of mushroom products. For example, in the catering system.
Evgeny Savchenko paid a working visit to the company “Mushrooms Belogorye” a month before his resignation, promised to help with business development
Initially, after Savchenko’s resignation, many expected that he would be replaced by Denis Butsaev, who had previously been appointed first vice-governor. However, unexpectedly, Butsaev was taken to Moscow to the post of head of the Russian Environmental Operator, and Vyacheslav Gladkov, who arrived straight from the post of deputy prime minister of the Stavropol Territory, became the governor of the Belgorod region.
“Mushrooms Belogorye” after the resignation of Savchenko at first felt fine. Before Karolina Ukolova, Pavel Sapozhnikov, a well-known businessman in the region, was engaged in the affairs of the company as a director. It is known that earlier he worked for five years in the regional department of construction and transport. When his chief from the department resigned and went into business, he invited Sapozhnikov with him to the position of head of the company PromagroStroy, a subsidiary of the Agro-Belogorye Group of Companies. In 2019, 22.5% of this holding was acquired by the Rusagro Group of Vadim Moshkovich.
Pavel Sapozhnikov was confident in the excellent prospects of “Mushrooms Belogorye”
Sapozhnikov, despite his obvious construction “profile”, undertook to manage Belogorye Mushrooms, combining this business with the management of the MedExpert family health clinic and the ExpertProjectStroy company he created. According to the data “Rusprofile”he was the “mushroom director” until July 2021 and then gave way to the chair of the head Karolina Ukolova, who previously worked at the ExpertProjectStroy company.
By a strange coincidence, immediately after Karolina Ukolova took the place of the director of Belogorye Mushrooms, an accident occurred that dragged the company into a debt hole.
Versions were expressed that the situation with parasites could not have arisen by chance, it could well have been created artificially by those who want to get this business cheaper. There were suggestions that among those who wished there was also the Rusagro Group, whose collection in the Belgorod region does not yet have such an asset, and Belogorye Mushrooms have not yet belonged to the company. However, this version has not yet been confirmed in practice. It is noteworthy that approximately the same thoughts were expressed by the director of the company Karolina Ukolova.
Carolina Ukolova tried to delve into a new business for her, but the accident happened too quickly
“At the moment, many potential investors are showing interest in our asset, they are waiting for bankruptcy and an open auction,” said the director of Belogorye Gribov in an interview with a journalist of the regional edition “Kommersant”.
She explained that she had applied to Sberbank with a request for a delay in connection with such a difficult situation, but it was not possible to agree. Initially, the lawsuit stated the amount of the debt of 3.2 million rubles, but then Sberbank “due to late payments” clarified the requirements and “presented in its entirety” the entire debt on the loan in the amount of 243 million rubles for repayment.
“We turned to Sberbank, to the authorities, asked for a delay in payments, but our arguments were recognized as insufficient. The money from the sale of the harvest was written off by the bank as a debt, the accounts were frozen, the company’s activities were paralyzed,” Karolina Ukolova said.
According to her, the previously disputed amount of 243 million rubles. was planned to be repaid in equal installments by July 2027. There is a possibility that a lawsuit from Sberbank may mobilize other creditors of the enterprise, which will further aggravate the situation. It is reported that the authorities are allegedly already looking for new owners for the enterprise.
Almost no one today has any doubts that under Savchenko, nothing like this would have happened with the Belogorye Mushrooms. So who became the true parasite in this story? It is possible that the true beneficiary of the situation will reveal himself in the near future.