“TRUST” BANK IS BANKROTING FLOWER BUSINESS

02/10/2020 “Trust” bank published information about its plans to start the bankruptcy process of two companies – “Rosehill” JSC and “F-Trout” LLC. The bank failed to resolve the conflict preliminary, and it seemed that the representatives of “Trust” decided not to wait for the moment when the debtors would have a sudden insight and decide to pay off their own debts. However, a number of experts hastened to express the opinion that the interests of the SUA “Trust” could go beyond the exclusively economic background and be related to the authority appointments.

“Rosehill” operates a rose-growing greenhouse. The area of its flower stands exceeds 14 hectares. And although the flower business in Russia has not been going through the best of recent years, since the market’s turnover is shrinking along with sales, a buyer for such an asset may be found easily. It might be the “Eastern Property Holdings” investment fund in particular, which recently bought a similar floriculture complex through one of its structures at the auction.

The “F-Trout” company is a trout breeding farm, producing up to 500 tons of products annually. It is known that the company's plans for 2020 included the launch of a production site for growing salmon. However, it is not clear in the current situation, whether the company will be able to fight off the “Trust's” plans and continue to work. In case of a bankruptcy and sale of “F-Trout” assets at the auction, the bank will be able to find a buyer quite easily.

Formally, the debts of companies to the “Trust” could arise due to a loan that was once taken from “MDM” Bank. Its subsequent merger with “Binbank” in 2016, and then the reorganization, led to the fact that the rights of claim passed to “Trust”. According to “Trust” itself, both companies owed nearly 4 billion rubles, over 3.8 billion of which came from “Rosehill” and another 130 million were owed by “F-Trout”.

In fact, both companies are interesting for the family of Garegin Ghevondyan and the Kaluga group “MIAK”, the structure of which includes these companies. The “Trust” has already managed to impose the corresponding burdens on the shares of the founders in “F-Trout”. It can be assumed that the flower business will not be an exception and will be put into circulation. However, a number of experts draws attention to the fact that among the founders of “F-Trout”, along with representatives of the Ghevondyan family (Robert and Irma), there are Olga Barkalova, the founder of the “Barshchevsky and Partners” Moscow Bar Association and the wife of the honored lawyer, Mikhail Barshchevsky, appear.

Why the “Trust”, which could have claimed the repayment of debts from Ghevondyan's companies since 2016, plans to appeal to the court just now? It is reasonable to assume that in this decision a political interest, related to the change of the Government of the Russian Federation that took place this year, appeares. Since Mikhail Barshchevsky has been working as the plenipotentiary representative of the Government of the Russian Federation in recent years, the corresponding collision with his wife’s assets may be an attempt to indirectly influence his status. If this is so, the question of whose will fulfills “Trust” bank and how the whole process will end, remains open.