MODUS AUTO DEALERS FROM LIPETSK WENT BANKRUPT WITH 3.5 BILLION RUBLES DEBTS

Several more legal entities of the Modus dealer chain went bankrupt. This time, the arbitration declared the Modus L and Modus-Lipetsk companies insolvent. The corresponding decision of the court of Lipetsk region was made public on June 28. The process itself started in the fall of 2019 after the claims had been sent to the court by the Moscow company SBK Geofizika.  

The Modus dealer chain has worked in the Russian automotive market for almost a quarter of a century, having opened more than 40 centers in various cities of the country during this time. The owners of the parent company (Modus OJSC) were Alexey and Tatiana Leshchenko. A significant number of firms in the black earth area of Russia declared bankruptcy after the structure controlled by Sberbank filed claims against them in 2019. It became clear that the companies turned out to be guarantors for each other for billions of dollars in loans received from Sberbank and Vozrozhdenie Bank.

The first bankruptcies were filed by the Voronezh companies Modus-VN and Modus-Premium in July 2020 with debts of 2.48 billion and 2.09 billion rubles, respectively.

Earlier, SBK Geofizika had filed insolvency claims against regional car dealers in Lipetsk, Novorossiysk and Krasnodar. Real estate companies (Krasnodar-Realty and Stark Establishment) also turned out to be defendants.

This time, two Lipetsk companies with debts of 1.5 billion and 2 billion rubles filed for bankruptcy. They also acted as guarantors for loans from other companies within the Modus chain. The observation procedure was introduced back on December 28, 2019.

As a result, the court concluded that the financial condition of both organizations engaged in the sale of cars in Lipetsk was unsatisfactory.

The interim manager filed an application to start bankruptcy proceedings, which was upheld by the court. Valentina Smirnova became the bankruptcy trustee in both organizations.