SBERBANK LAUNCHED BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST ASHATLI DAIRY HOLDING

Sberbank filed bankruptcy claims against eight enterprises that are parts of the Ashatli agricultural holding.  The credit institution demands more than 276 million rubles from each of the three firms (Shlyapniki, Pikhtovskoye, Agrotekhkontakt).  Five more companies became candidates for bankruptcy without specifying the amount owed.  The claims themselves have yet to be considered by the court.

One of the main reasons for the possible bankruptcy are loans that the owners of the holding took in 2006-2009, say the sources. According to the Kommersant newspaper, referring to data from their inner source of information, business participants created a group of companies using the money received on the loan.  And while some organizations were bought up, the others were forced to take on debt obligations.

Sberbank already initiated the bankruptcy of several companies of the holding in 2017.

Then the defendants were the Agrosepich, Zhemchuzhina, Niva and Pikhtovskoe firms. The two latter had obligations on loans for 488.9 million and 257 million, received a long time ago.  Other companies and their executives were liable as sureties.  At the same time, by March 2018, the credit institution entered into an amicable agreement with companies, which made it possible to change the schedule of payments on existing debt.

It is known that about 40% of the debt (220 million) was successfully repaid by the agricultural holding.  But the changed market situation played a negative role here.

Raw milk dropped in value and loan servicing by the end of last year proved to be problematic.

Along with Sberbank, a lawsuit has been recently filed against the Agrosepich by the Cyprus Investment company.  Previously, its beneficiaries were the founders of Ashatli.  The company demands more than 330 million rubles from the organization, which is a part of the holding.