It is obvious that the bankruptcy of the former “sausage king” Nikolai Agurbash may be beneficial to his longtime enemy, the oligarch Igor Kesaev.
As the reporter learned MorningNews, businessman Nikolai Agurbash failed to challenge the ruling of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region on bringing him to subsidiary liability for the debts of his company Mortadel. As follows from the Interfax report, the Tenth Arbitration Court of Appeal rejected the businessman’s appeal and upheld the previous ruling of the court.
It is clarified that the contested decision was made based on the results of consideration of the application of the bankruptcy trustee of the Mortadel Firm Arkady Irizov. However, the events of recent years suggest that the bankruptcy of Agurbash is just an episode in a chain that could lead to the takeover of his company by a stronger player. And the most likely candidate for this role is the wealthy retailer Igor Kesaev.
“DNA” and sausage
The judicial act states that the proceedings in terms of determining the amount of subsidiary liability are suspended until the end of settlements with creditors. But this is already a formality.
Recently, Mortadel has found itself in a difficult situation. Experts note that the main problems arose in 2017 – interaction with large retail chains turned out to be tense and the company actually lost about 98% of the sales market. In May 2020, the Moscow Arbitration Court declared the holding bankrupt.
By this time, his debts had exceeded the mark of 800 million rubles. The businessman could no longer cope with such a debt, and, it seems, he did not really try. After the collapse of the Mortadel company, the authors of the site moneymakerfactory.com they alleged that Agurbash was allegedly carried away by breeding pigeons, but this activity clearly did not bring him income and was more like a way to escape from painful reality.
The relationship between Kesaev and Agurbash “sparked” for a long time. And often the reasons for this came precisely from Kesaev, more precisely from his companies.
Suffice it to recall the scandal that thundered in the spring of 2017 with the discovery of human DNA in the sausage products of the Mortadel company. For an intelligent person, it was obvious that this was a provocation from beginning to end, although the news and commented some scientist from the research center. The news was worded in such a way that it unwittingly made one suspect the presence of human beings in the Mortadel sausage, although human DNA could be in it at any stage – for example, from the skin of the hands, the hair of a packer, a store loader or a seller. The rebuke of the vice-president of “Mortadel” Elvira Agurbash (ex-wife of Nikolai Agurbash) was then published by the radio “Business FM” and other media, but it is unlikely that this helped immediately correct the situation.
That story is detailed “Version” and came to the conclusion that there is a development of a conflict between Agurbash’s Mortadel company and the Dixy supermarket chain, owned by Igor Kesaev.
As a result, the fourth largest Russian food retailer, Dixy, terminated the supply contract with Mortadel, a sausage manufacturer near Moscow, citing quality claims and, in particular, the presence of E. coli in the sausage. I wrote about it in detail “Kommersant”.
Almost simultaneously, Elvira Agurbash spoke at the parliamentary hearings of the Federation Council committee on agrarian and food policy and environmental management with a devastating speech about how retail chains profit from the population in a crisis food embargo.
According to “Kommersant”, all this was preceded by a conflict between companies over the size of trade margins. It was him in “Mortadel” called the true reason for the decision of “Dixie”.
In addition, “Mortadel” and “Dixie” filed complaints against each other in the Federal Antimonopoly Service with accusations of violating the law “On Competition”.
Obviously, entrepreneurs and their partners had enough reason to dislike each other.
The “vacuum cleaner” strategy
Nikolai Agurbash founded the Mortadel company, which specialized in pig breeding and food production, in 1991. For many years he was called the “sausage king”, he was married to the singer Anzhelika Yalinskaya (Agurbash) and was a regular at social events.
However, in recent years, according to media reports, the company is in a difficult financial situation.
Igor Kesaev, on the contrary, in recent years, things have clearly gone uphill, including thanks to his mergers and acquisitions. Now he occupies the 35th position in the ranking of the richest businessmen in Russia, according to the magazine. Forbes with a fortune of $ 4 billion. For comparison, in 2018 Forbes estimated his fortune at $ 2.4 billion.
In the “track record” of Igor Kesaev there is already a vivid example of the absorption of assets he liked. The story concerns the Krasnoye & Beloe company, which several years ago was a competitor to the Bristol chain of stores owned by Kesaev.
Many people remember how at the end of December 2018, the security forces raided the warehouses and the office of the Krasnoe & Beloe chain, which sells alcoholic products. “Strike” was calculated exactly! The operation of the network was practically paralyzed, and the licenses of three warehouses were revoked. The publication wrote about it “Retaillife”.
The experts then wondered if it was a coincidence that a couple of months before that, the Krasnoe & Beloe chain of stores failed to appeal the complaint filed by one of Kesaev’s structures to the Federal Antimonopoly Service that the chain’s stores selling cigarettes were located at a distance of less than 100 m from schools .
And already in the 20th of January 2019 became aware ofthat the third largest retailer in terms of turnover will appear in Russia, combining the assets of the Dixy, Bristol and Krasnoe & Beloe chains.
Taking into account the fact that the structures of Kesaev and Agurbash have long been in conflict, it is very likely that now the story of the bankruptcy of the Mortadel firm sausage empire will end in a triumph of the structures of Igor Kesaev, who will take it into their hands.