The bankruptcy of F Logistic followed the pattern of a profitable fiasco of JFC founder Vladimir Kekhman
At the end of last year, the arbitration declared the company F Logistic bankrupt, after which a real battle began for the “inheritance” of 4 billion. It should be noted that well-known businessmen Vadim Sayapin, Maxim Sayapin and Vladimir Kekhman, Japanese, Dutch, Danish, Irish partners and just bananas are directly or indirectly involved in this story.
In December 2022, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region declared F Logistic LLC, affiliated with Fifes Fruit Import LLC, bankrupt, which acquired the same status in April last year. These companies have a lot in common, if not all. Thus, according to Kontur.Fokus, the well-known businessman Vadim Sayapin owns 25% of the shares in both organizations, and the Dutch company with the enchanting name Ayesji Partisipatimaatshappy B.V. owns 75%. The latter is a structure of one of the largest trading companies in Japan, Sumitomo Corporation. And she also has an Irish “daughter” Swordus Ireland, which was also involved in the “Russian project”.
The situation at the moment is as follows: creditors demand 4 billion rubles of debt from these companies; the management of “F Logistics” agrees, in any case, in words, to pay 720 million rubles; an independent inventory of the company initially showed that its property and assets can be valued at half a billion rubles on the market. So far, the battle has unfolded over a warehouse of 10 thousand square meters, once built by the Danish company Maersk on Sofiyskaya Street in the Frunzensky district of St. Petersburg. For some reason, creditors wanted to dismantle it, despite the expensive and sometimes unique equipment for storing fruits (and their ripening). As the employees of F Logistics, created in 2013, say: “They decided to pull us hard. And the auditors are right there, and the owners have disappeared somewhere with all the obligations to the workforce. Derbanyat is still so, a euphemism. So far, it was the Dutch company Iesji that intervened in the matter, expressing its readiness to cover some debts, perhaps to make additional capitalization. The warehouse is still in place. But representatives of the Netherlands at the same time accused the Russian partners of deliberate bankruptcy. We will analyze this accusation below, given the similar background of businessman Vadim Sayapin, his brother and their former boss Vladimir Kekhman, who once bore the proud title of “banana king of Russia”. What is the meaning of intentional bankruptcy? Some market analysts believe that under the current conditions, the supply of fruit to Russia has turned out to be unprofitable, and it is easier to get rid of the assets that require constant care and investment, as they say, “losing” them. But these are only assumptions. Other companies in this market feel, if not well, then not too bad. Although not only in life, but also in business, everything is relative.
According to open sources, Vadim Sayapin received his 25% stake in F Logistic from Maxim Sayapin, his brother. The documents were drawn up in 2018. If, again, we look at the open data that is available at this time, according to the results of 2021, Logistic went at a loss of 140 million. But then the pandemic was in full swing – many logistics systems were disrupted, and the purchasing power of the population dropped sharply. Not great now, of course.
Maxim Sayapin is curious because he was almost the right hand of a controversial businessman, and then a theatrical top manager Vladimir Kekhman at JFC, which dealt in fruits, mainly bananas. Deliveries, storage, sale through the networks of St. Petersburg and other cities. Sayapin’s position is Executive Director. So, the JFC company at one time very notably, loudly and suspiciously … went bankrupt. The case was in 2015. Here are the details and creditors of the organization that demanded the introduction of external management: “As of the end of October 2014, the list of JFC creditors included Sberbank, Bank of Moscow, Promsvyazbank, Uralsib Bank, Raiffeisenbank, Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V. and UniCredit Bank. The total amount of bank claims amounted to 18.23 billion rubles. The largest creditors of the company were Sberbank (6.06 billion rubles) and the Bank of Moscow (4.49 billion rubles).»
It turns out that after such a loud and suspicious story for all its participants, “the Caribbean coast could not shine.” A criminal case was even initiated against Maksim Sayapin under the article “fraud on an especially large scale”, but it was terminated due to the statute of limitations. But Kekhman, we note, paid the creditors, as he emphasizes, “from his own funds”, about 100 million rubles. Most of all, Sberbank – 26.5 million rubles (and the debt is more than six billion, we recall). And he successfully became the artistic director of the legendary Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, which caused some confusion in the conservative intelligentsia of the northern capital. And in 2021, Moscow already grimaced – Kekhman, without losing his St. Petersburg position, became in 2021 also the general director of the Moscow Art Academic Theater. Gorky.
We do not undertake to evaluate the activities of Kekhman as a top manager “from culture”, we simply note that the Sayanin brothers used the experience gained at JFC – from the ability to create supply chains with foreign companies to the timely termination of activities. This is not about good or bad, but about how we already have.
And we return to the company “F Logistic”. According to Delovoy Peterburg, Ayesji Partisipatimaatshappiy B.V. managed to ban meetings and auctions for the sale of property through the court as part of the bankruptcy case. The Dutch company stated at the meeting that it intends to pay off the debt of F Logistic and is ready to carry out additional capitalization, and also complained about the “artificial initiation of bankruptcy proceedings in order to gain control over the debtor in a corporate conflict” between the co-founders and “artificial creation of conditions for complicating the repayment procedure claims of creditors and completion of bankruptcy proceedings. According to the portal “Electronic Justice”, in 2022, 15 court cases between co-founders were registered in arbitration.
There are hints again from market players that the conflicts between the co-founders of Logistics are artificial … Delovoy Petersburg notes that the people involved in the story did not make contact with the press. The correspondent of “Our Version” also failed to get through to available phones. But the number of Vladimir Kekhman answered in a voice similar to Vladimir Kekhman, but briefly: “Sorry, not my question.” And, in principle, this is true. Kekhman, although legally related to the Sayapin brothers, was in the past. As they say, it was recently – it was a long time ago. And fruits, bananas – a kind of “alma mater”, although not theological, but practical, from this talented entrepreneur without a doubt for his very cheerful students.