REFTINSKAYA POULTRY FARM IS THREATENED WITH BANKRUPTCY BY A "SUBSIDIARY" BAKERY

Oleg Dushkin, director of the Sverdlovsk Bread Products Combine (SKHP), announced his intention to apply to arbitration with a claim for bankruptcy of the parent company at Fedresurs. Earlier, the Reftinskaya poultry farm lost a lawsuit to recover 149 million for the supply of compound feeds. However, the factory itself considers the threats to be in vain, intending to challenge the court's decision on appeal.

The conflict between the organizations has been going on for more than a year. Last year, 51% of the shares of SKHP, which had been supplying its products to the poultry farm for many years, was acquired by Reftinskaya for 250 million.

According to Dushkin, the transaction was carried out with violations of the law. An investor who planned to spend $262 million for these purposes was not allowed to bid. However, the management of the plant failed to protest the deal in court. On April 1, 2022, the legality of the contract was confirmed in court.

The position of the head of the plant at the moment looks rather shaky. The owners of the parent company are seeking his removal from office. To this end, in November 2022, the arbitration court in Yekaterinburg issued a verdict on holding a meeting of shareholders of the company out of turn. It must be organized within 70 days from the date of the decision. One of the four items on the agenda of the event is the early dismissal of Dushkin from the post of general director.

According to the shareholders of "SHKP", 11.39% of the plant's securities belong to Dushkin. Another 18.71% of the shares is owned by one of the company's top managers, Vitaly Dudin. In April last year, the poultry farm has already sent a complaint to the prosecutor's office against the heads of the plant, who refuse to provide for review the documents of economic reporting necessary to assess the assets of the enterprise.

At the same time, the financial state of affairs of the Reftinskaya itself leaves much to be desired. The company, which has existed since 1981 (in 2011 it was registered as a joint stock company), has accumulated debts of 2.4 billion by 2021. An attempt to put it up for auction and sell it for 2.5 billion was unsuccessful. After that, the authorities abandoned their intention to sell the factory, looking for investors.

The organization carried out an additional issue of shares in the amount of 1.6 billion. As the Kommersant-Ural newspaper reported, the purchasers of the shares were the heads of the poultry farm, headed by Alexander Zasypkin. In the middle of 2022, it became known that the Ural Agro-industrial Group had established control over the poultry farm. The new owners announced their intentions to invest 2 billion in the development of the enterprise.

Photo: Freepik