THE GOVERNOR OF NOVOSIBIRSK REGION DID NOT MANAGE TO PROTECT SIBMOST COMPANY FROM BANKRUPTCY

Sibmost, one of the largest bridge constructing companies in Russia, finally filed for bankruptcy in May 2020. The other day on the air of the Vesti television channel, the head of the Novosibirsk region admitted that the authorities' attempt to save the company should be considered unsuccessful. What kind of efforts did Andrei Travnikov make for this and why, now, apparently, is already a rhetorical question. According to his statement, he honestly tried to prevent the bankruptcy of the corporation

For a region, where a large bridge-constructing corporation was ‘registered’ for several decades, the bankruptcy that has occurred may result in more than just the loss of a significant part of the tax base. Financial problems overtook Sibmost immediately after the company built the third (Bugrinsky) bridge across the Ob River, say the experts. The head of the state was invited to its opening, and he eventually opened it. And in the spring of 2019, the company got under the observation procedure.

The company's debts to creditors amounted to about 7.9 billion rubles.

The bankruptcy procedure opened up the opportunity to invalidate the agreement, according to which 104.5 thousand shares of Sibmost (they make up 92% of the capital of the joint-stock company) were sold by the main beneficiary, founder and the former president of the corporation, Albert Koshkin, to the Sibmost Group Company (previously it was called ‘United Bridge Constructing Enterprise’, UBCE). The company has bought a part of shares, the par value of which was estimated at 19.4 million rubles, for 92 kopecks.

In the same way, for 8 kopecks, the UBCE company previously acquired a 7.5% stake in Sibmost's authorized capital from his son Vladislav Koshkin, a former deputy of the Regional Legislative Assembly, who served as the company's CEO. Thanks to the efforts of Veronica Meshchan, this deal was also challenged in the arbitration court. She carried out the financial management in the process of restructuring the debts of the Koshkin father and son since 2017. Both of them owed Expobank 78.6 million rubles, acting as guarantors under the loan agreements to Sibmost.

It turned out that the founders of the company, created in March 2017 and actually becoming an investor of Sibmost for 1 ruble, were the structures of AFK Sistema and Sberbank, as well as Zvenigorodskaya DSK.

It is curious that one of the owners of the company turned out to be Araz Mehdiev (co-founder of the Moscow ‘Gardener’ market), whose father-in-law has repeatedly called himself a classmate of President Putin.

Now the Koshkins are again the owners of Sibmost and must return 92 kopecks and 8 kopecks, respectively. Meanwhile, the regional division of Russian Automobile Roads has already added the company into the register of unscrupulous suppliers, and many government contracts, which the corporation could previously count on, have gone to other organizations.