Tulupov will “warm up” Gordeev “Inteko”?

As expected, The Moscow Post once founded by Elena Baturina passed to Alexei Tulupov.  It seems that the Inteko Group of Companies he bought out will either go to Sergey Gordeev, or return to the outline of the Gutseriev empire.

The intrigue that kept the players of the construction industry in suspense for almost five years was resolved on the development market. Created by the wife of the former mayor of Moscow, Elena Baturina, the Inteko company was bought out by the structures of the odious businessman Alexei Tulupov.

the appearance that he had retired from the affairs of his group. Given his scandalousness, perhaps Tulupov simply became an intermediary between Gordeev and the bank of non-core assets “Trust”, which kept the assets of “Inteko” on its balance sheet.

But another version is no less likely: Mikhail Gutseriev, the owner of the Safmar Group, dreams of returning to the ownership of the company lost in 2017. And Tulupov can well “dissolve” Mr. Gutseriev for the ransom of “Inteko” already from his hands. About what will eventually happen to the former business of Luzhkov's wife – in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

“Split” Uncle Misha

When we talk about intrigue, it's not just that. The sale of Inteko to the structures of Alexei Tulupov (owns the Sminex development group) has become the largest M&A (“merger and acquisition”) deal on the development market since 2015. This information was provided by the bank of non-core assets “Trust”, which has managed the assets of “Inteko” since 2018.

The deal amounted to about 38 billion rubles. Moreover, initially Inteko, whose revenue in 2021 amounted to at least 60 billion rubles, wanted to be sold at auction: the auction was announced last year. However, at the very last moment it was canceled due to the position of a potential buyer – an offshore company from Cyprus, Morden Finance Limited.

Then it was said that this was done in the interests of a potential buyer – this meant an offshore, which, according to rumors, previously had 5% of the structure, and the management of the company itself was called the ultimate beneficiaries. However, even then, experts expressed the opinion that, in reality, structures of Mikhail Gutseriev and his nephew Mikail Shishkhanov could stand behind the offshore.

Allegedly, they wanted the return of their former asset, but they simply did not have the money to buy it through an auction, the price of which could reach almost 100 billion rubles. Perhaps that is why the offshore filed a lawsuit to ban any actions with Inteko's assets. In May 2022, the Cypriot court annulled the interim measures due to the fact that the plaintiff did not disclose the circumstances essential to the case. include-img” loading=”lazy” title=”Tulupov will “warm up” Gordeev “Inteko”?” type=”image/png” alt=”Tulupov will “warm up” Gordeev's “Inteko”?” />

Will Mikhail Gutseriev be given hope for the return of Inteko through Alexei Tulupov? Photo: Sergey Bobylev/TASS

that “Safmar” of the Gutserievs was called one of the contenders for the purchase of the structure – even taking into account the fact that their structures were not declared for auction in 2021.

Their probable desire to buy Inteko is easy to understand: Trust received control over the developer in 2018 as part of the restructuring of the debts of the owner of Binbank, Mikail Shishkhanov, the nephew of Mikhail Gutseriev. Recall that Binbank collapsed with a financial “hole” of 300 billion rubles.

According to evil tongues, the real beneficiary of Binbank, along with Shishkhanov, was allegedly his uncle. But transferred on account of the debts of Binbank and Rost-Bank, which was attached to it as part of the reorganization, were clearly not enough to restore the rights of all the depositors who remained out of work. At the same time, neither Gutseriev nor Shishkhanov bore any other responsibility for the situation, not to mention criminal.

It was assumed that Inteko could be attached to the development group A101, which was associated with the Gutserievs. Until recently, the owner of the legal entity New Perspective, which owns a stake in A101, was Bilan Uzhakhov, Gutseriev's nephew. Now he is the general director of the organization, and the Cypriot offshore “HORRENSTON HOLDINGS LIMITED” and Alexander Putilin own shares.

Read more about this in The Moscow Post material “Zagogulin from Uncle Misha”.

However, if Aleksey Tulupov tries to “divorce” Gutseriev to buy Inteko from him, it is not a fact that the parties will be able to agree. Not to mention the fact that the debts of the oligarchic family in 2019 were estimated at almost a trillion rubles – how could Mikhail Safarbekovich repay Tulupov for such a service?

But then, in any case, Tulupov will be able to work at Inteko earn. At least with the help of his longtime partner Sergei Gordeev, so everything is not in vain.

Tulupov – a “proxy” for Gordeev?

Further transfer of Inteko's assets from Sminex Tulupov in favor of Sergey Gordeev is a completely possible option. Only not by joining the business to PIK Group, but, for example, to create a new development structure.

PIK Group is one of the largest, and at the same time the most scandalous developers of modern Russia. So scandalous that lately Gordeev demonstratively (quite possibly, just trying to mislead market players) moved away from his brainchild.

In September, Gordeev unexpectedly announced his resignation from the post of general director of PIK, transferring the operational management of the business to his deputy Ivan Polandov. Then the businessman said that he intended to engage in corporate governance and strategic development. Although the market said that he was tired of being under fire. And not only the actual development business, but also one of the country's largest management companies in the housing sector – Pik-Comfort LLC.

At the end of 2021, the structure's loss amounted to 814 million rubles. In addition to other debts of PIK structures, this is a lot. According to Versiya, the company is highly indebted; by the end of 2021, its liabilities were estimated at almost 450 billion rubles. Not Gutseriev's debt yet, but already close.

Given the level of debt load, ill-wishers tried to ascribe to PIK the dubious glory of a financial pyramid that lives only on new loans and projects. Nevertheless, the group remains the No. 1 developer in Russia in terms of the number of meters commissioned.

Apparently, Gordeev decided to start the development business from scratch, trying to get rid of these debts. But it is no less important that the green light was turned off for the largest developer in the traditional market of Moscow and the Moscow region.

As for Peak-Comfort, it was almost squeezed out of the governor's patrimony Moscow region Andrey Vorobyov. Earlier, he sharply criticized the work of the company, instructing subordinate officials to stop working with an organization that allegedly did not fulfill its obligations.

Remember Rosbuilding

Meanwhile, Alexei Tulupov himself stood at the origins of the PIK Group of Companies, and before that he was an associate and partner of Sergei Gordeev in the Rosbuilding company. The latter, even in the officially registered media, did not hesitate to call the “Raiders of All Rus'”. They were credited with unfriendly seizures and various intrigues, as a result of which a huge number of businesses turned out to be in their hands.

Often these businesses were simply destroyed, employees were driven out into the street, and the territories were given for construction to odious structures. There is a known case when at one time the mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, kept Rosbuilding from dismissing 900 women from a closed factory, which went to Gordeev's structure. Forbes wrote about it.

Alexey Tulupov (pictured) did not forget his old friend and partner Sergei Gordeev? Photo: http://vlasti.info/news/6867-tulupov_hahdet_hleba_i_rejdov

The work of the company and its key representatives Gordeev and Tulupov caused so many complaints and questions that in 2007 it ceased to exist. According to rumors – “away from sin.” That is, away from law enforcement officers. And the two partners divided the assets of the structure. Tulupov alone allegedly got about $300 million.

Such fruitful cooperation is not forgotten. Therefore, the version that Tulupov's Sminex could act as a “gasket” for the resale of Inteko's assets is quite possible.

At the same time, Alexei Tulupov himself and his business may soon be considered as toxic as they are trying to imagine and Gordeeva. After the “divorce” of assets and exit from PIK, Tulupov went into both development and baking businesses.

Today, the main legal entity of its Sminex Group of Companies, Sminex Asset Management, is the founder of 20 construction organizations at once, many of which show losses. For example, at the end of 2021, Sminex LLC showed a loss of almost 400 million rubles. Another related company, Brixton LLC, is in the red by almost 150 million rubles. Where the money went is not clear.

A separate story is the baking business of Mr. Tulupov. And many of the assets associated with it could have gone to the businessman with the help of his experience in Rosbuilding. For example, CJSC Balashikha Khleb, which was previously part of Igor Pinkevich's Nastyusha group. It provided up to 60% of the Moscow bakery market. A delicious piece of cake – both literally and figuratively.

And everything seemed to be fine with Pinkevich. But in August 2017, the businessman was detained on suspicion of embezzling part of the 60 billion rubles collected from equity holders of the Tsaritsino housing complex, one of the development projects of the Moscow baker. “. In March 2020, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow Region declared Balashikha Khleb CJSC bankrupt and opened bankruptcy proceedings. And Alexei Tulupov was right there – almost the first to show up and win the auction.

One of the largest baking companies in the capital seemed to “fell” into his pocket by itself. And it became an excellent addition to another asset of the BKH Kolomensky, which, due to the new acquisition, could increase production up to 70 tons per day.

Again, all this is very reminiscent of the activities of Tulupov and Gordeev when they were partners in Rosbuilding. This means that new “divorces” may not be far off – and they will definitely earn big money on Inteko.