"Vedomosti" found out where the family of the owners of the bank "Yugra" takes the money

https: //www.site/2016-05-30/vedomosti_vyyasnili_otkuda_semya_vladelcev_banka_yugra_beret_dengi

"Kings of Real Estate"

"Vedomosti" found out where the family of the owners of the bank "Yugra" takes the money

Natives of Belarus, father and son Yuri and Alexei Khotin, at the end of last year, rose from 10th to 8th line in the Forbes rating "Kings of Russian Real Estate". According to Vedomosti, rental income of 2 million sq. M. meters in Moscow amounted to $ 325 million against $ 320 million a year earlier. True, it did not come cheap: in 2015 the Khotins added the building of the former Moscow hotel in Okhotny Ryad, which includes the Four Seasons hotel, the Fashion Gallery shopping center and a business center, having bought it, according to experts, from businessman Suleiman Kerimov for 500 million dollars. Nevertheless, Hotin Jr. first entered the Forbes rating with a fortune of $ 0.9 billion. In addition to real estate, businessmen have oil assets - a stake in Exillon Energy and NK Dulisma, as well as Bank Yugra, which, according to Interfax-CEA, ranks 33rd in terms of assets as of April 1, 2016, and 30th by capital. At the same time, the Hotins are one of the most private businessmen in Russia. All attempts by Vedomosti to talk ended in the same way. "They are aware of your questions, but do not want to communicate," the representatives of the Khotin and their acquaintances reported.

In the past few years, the younger Khotin, Aleksey, has been managing all the assets. Since the father, according to their acquaintances and contractors, retired. Khotins are among the few businessmen who continue to actively buy up assets. In 2013, they were interested in acquiring Uralkali from Kerimov, said people close to this company. In the real estate market, Khotin in 2013-2015 "looked at everything", assure two large developers. For example, we asked the price of the Atrium shopping center on Kurskaya, Novinsky passage, said people close to the owners of these complexes. “True, they offered the price for the Atrium much lower than the owners wanted, so the deal did not work out. As a result, they chose “Moscow” from the same Kerimov ”, - says one of the interlocutors of“ Vedomosti ”. Hotins never pay dearly and pay for a purchase on credit, a survey of their partners and counterparties showed. The crisis in the debt financing market affected them as well: in 2014 they began to refinance in their bank "Yugra". As a result, it is difficult for them to find an asset free of collateral, a study by Vedomosti showed.

Sberbank and VTB helped the Khotin acquire Moscow, according to developers and bankers. A person close to one of the parties to the transaction confirmed that VTB had financed the Khotin's purchase from Kerimov of the premises of the Four Seasons Hotel in the restored building of the Moskva Hotel. This property belongs to OJSC Dekmos, 100% of which is controlled by the Cypriot firm Lansgrade Holdings. In 2015, it changed its owner, and at the beginning of 2016, Lansgrade, judging by the data of the Cypriot register, terminated the pledge agreement for its shares and Dekmos shares with Sberbank (the bank had previously provided loans to Kerimov's structures for 10.9 billion rubles and 130 million dollars ). At the same time, the company entered into a pledge agreement with VTB. True, this time the amount of the loan was not indicated, and the security was not the shares of firms owning real estate, but the pledge of rights to the ruble and dollar bank accounts of Dekmos with VTB. Cypriot legislation allows the use of the company's future income as security for a loan. But in practice, such collateral is usually applied when the borrower is under the control of the lender, argues the legal consultant who asked for anonymity. These are high-risk transactions that, as a rule, banks do not approve for outside parties, agrees another lawyer who asked for anonymity. Lansgrade Holdings ltd is in no way connected with the VTB group, the bank has never owned the premises in the building of the former hotel "Moscow", the press service of VTB reported.

The Hotins control the retail and office premises in Moscow through Torgovaya Galereya LLC, owned by the Cyprus-based Iolernico Investments. The company also changed owners in 2015, but they renegotiated a pledge agreement for the company's shares with Sberbank, committing themselves to a loan of $ 160 million.

This is the usual strategy for the Khotins, says one of the counterparties. In the real estate and oil markets, there is talk about the power of the Khotins, who are supposedly behind unlimited monetary and administrative resources, he adds. In fact, Alexei Khotin does not have that much money, continues the source of Vedomosti. Khotin conducts all negotiations as follows: I am now ready to pay you 10 or 5% of the cost, then in installments and for credit money, and then, when the cash flow begins, everything else, says another person who worked with this businessman.

Khotin, like many others, conducts transactions with credit funds. He works with about 30 banks, but his largest creditors are state banks. Of course, successful cooperation with state banks, as well as the fact that his oil companies, despite the resistance of the Ministry of Finance, easily receive tax breaks, give rise to such conversations, admits one of Vedomosti's interlocutors. But it would be an exaggeration to believe that there is one person behind the Khotins, who provides them with the most favored nation treatment, he believes.

The Khotins are quite independent businessmen who have proved that the expression “do not have a hundred rubles, but have a hundred friends” is not just a proverb, but a line from a business plan, assures one of their creditors: “You can say this is a real Russian success story, in which people had connections with the security forces as a starting capital and skillfully used them. "

The Khotin family is on good terms with ex-Minister of Internal Affairs of Belarus Vladimir Naumov, who introduced them to the former head of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and ex-speaker of the State Duma Boris Gryzlov, who is now supporting them, Kommersant and Forbes wrote.

The interests of the Khotins in the government are lobbied by Gryzlov or, at his request, the ex-head of the FSB Nikolai Patrushev, a high-ranking official confirms. For example, Gryzlov personally sought the extension of tax benefits for the Dulisma oil company, asserted a large businessman who was also interested in benefits. The relevant departments do not comment on this.

Yuri Khotin never hid the fact that Gryzlov was solving issues for them, and in general he always behaved like a person who is not afraid of anything and is very confident in himself, says a former high-ranking official who is now in business. “But I don’t have the feeling that this is one man show, I definitely feel the support of security officials of different levels,” adds the source of Vedomosti.

Several years ago, before one of the first major deals with Moscow real estate - the purchase of MTZ Rubin, which owns Gorbushkin Dvor - Ural Latypov joined the Rubin board of directors in the interests of buyers. The latter headed the Belarusian Foreign Ministry from 1998 to 2000, and later became a member of the Security Council of the republic. Belarusian media include Latypov in the inner circle of the country's President Alexander Lukashenko. It is also known that Latypov was the head of a department at the higher courses of the KGB in Minsk, which was once graduated by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev.

High-ranking officials, various security officials help the Khotins to resolve issues, agrees a man who lost his property several years ago as a result of a conflict with businessmen's structures: “They have excellent connections. My lawyer turned out to be a classmate of a man who at that time was the deputy minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. So, I was told that the deputy minister called about the fact that his classmate was helping the wrong person, ”he recalled. But, for example, the Khotins are not familiar with the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, an employee of the mayor's office assures. They don't need it: they successfully solve all the necessary issues at the prefect level, the official adds. And he recalls that there were many claims to the structures of the Khotins from the former owners of real estate, which passed to the Khotins. “But, as far as I know, it was not possible to prove that the Khotins acquired something illegally, the criminal cases were falling apart,” he adds.

Army discipline and a habit of secrecy are felt in the Khotin companies, their counterparties agree. For the most part, former employees of the authorities work for businessmen, their offices are like bunkers, divisions are closed on themselves, people do not know what their neighbor is doing, and in general they have everything captive - up to Internet providers in the shopping center, says one of the partners Khotinykh.

Now all the assets of the Khotins are pledged to banks, the interlocutors of Vedomosti agree.

Judging by the history of collateral, in the 2000s, the Khotin structures acquired real estate with loans from Sberbank, VTB and Globex Bank, which have hundreds of thousands of square meters of space owned by businessmen as collateral.

“Already in 2008, an acquaintance from VTB introduced the Khotins as cool, wealthy clients, although they did something about the loan agreement in this bank,” says a former top manager of one of the state banks. The word "nakhimichili" hides a story, during which VTB tried to return a loan of 6 billion rubles through the court. In 2008, the Bank issued to the company "Equipment and Machines" 6.25 billion rubles on the security of a business center and a land plot on Dmitrovskoe highway. The guarantor for the loan was the Mega-Group management company, which had this building in a long-term lease. She pledged a lease to the bank. In 2009, the loan ceased to be serviced, and both companies went bankrupt. The bankruptcy manager of Mega Group terminated the lease and returned the building to Equipment and Machines. And the manager of Equipment and Machines leased the building for a long-term lease to a new company - Edelweiss. VTB tried to challenge these decisions, but failed. Nevertheless, in the end, the parties agreed on a world one, the details of which they did not disclose. "The debt of OOO Equipment and Machines to VTB was settled amicably at the end of 2013, and currently VTB has no claims in connection with this debt," the bank's press service said.

Sberbank President German Gref is well acquainted with Alexei Khotin, a person from the businessman's entourage assures. In Sberbank, Hotins have been credited since the 2000s. But their history was not perfect, the bank had claims to some legal entities, they did not want to extend credit lines - and then Sergei Mironov, who was then the speaker of the Federation Council, called Gref and asked for the Khotin, an acquaintance of businessmen assures. Mironov himself categorically denied this. In an interview with Vedomosti, Gref only confirmed that he was familiar with “one of” the Khotins. In 2010, their structures for $ 95 million purchased the assets of Urals Energy from Sberbank, on the basis of which NK Dulisma was created. In June 2014, the owner of Dulisma, the Crowncity company, pledged the Dulisma promissory note in Sberbank until 2017.

And now strange things are happening to the asset

Sberbank's credit lines from 2010, 2011 and 2014 included part of the premises of the Gorbushkin Dvor shopping center in Bagrationovskiy proezd, office and warehouse centers in Elektrolitny proezd, on Nizhegorodskaya street and the Krasny Bogatyr complex - a total of about 200,000 sq. meters.

Sberbank does not comment on cooperation with the Khotins, as it adheres to the confidentiality policy in relations with clients, a bank representative said.

Now the largest creditor of the Khotin is the Rosselkhozbank (RSHB), several bankers and one of Khotin's counterparties assure.

In 2010, Dmitry Patrushev, the son of Nikolai Patrushev, became the chairman of the bank's board. In 2013, NK Dulisma Khotinykh received a credit line from the RSHB, including for refinancing Sberbank loans, under which businessmen pledged the real estate of MTZ Rubin in Bagrationovsky Proezd - the bulk of the premises of the Gorbushkin Dvor shopping center, as well as areas in several business centers. In this bank, since 2014, the equipment of "Dulisma" has also been laid. The representative of the RSHB did not answer questions about cooperation with the Khotins.

Bank Saint Petersburg, from which the Hotins bought the oil company Development of St. Petersburg, were mortgaged by the Hotins since 2014, and in 2016 they mortgaged 33 thousand square meters. meters in a business center on Paveletskaya embankment.

The Khotins also have good business relations with Alfa-Bank, says one of their creditors. According to him, at the end of 2014 they had a limit under $ 1 billion, all issues with the bank were resolved at the shareholder level. The bank's co-owner Mikhail Fridman confirmed to Vedomosti the information about the credit line, but did not answer other questions about the Khotin. Apparently, it was with the money of Alfa-Bank that the Hotins bought the Filion shopping center in Bagrationovskiy proezd. The bank just in the year of the transaction - in 2011 - opened a credit line to the current owners of Filion in the currency, according to which they had to mortgage in January 2014 the land plot for the shopping center and its premises and more than 100 thousand sq. M. meters in other objects.

The loan in Credit Suisse for $ 100 million pledges 100% of shares of all production subsidiaries of Exillon Energy (Yukatex Oil, Kayum Neft, Nem Oil, Komi Resources, Yukatex-Yugra) and Cypriot companies - owners of these enterprises, except for Aslador Oil.

Bank Yugra came under the control of the Khotin structures in 2014, and at the end of 2015 Aleksey Khotin began to directly control 52.5% in it.

The new shareholders supported the bank: "Yugra" indicated in the financial statements that in 2014 it received from them under donation agreements 7.2 billion rubles. But the bank itself began to actively lend to them: in 2015-2016, businessmen pledged two large business centers as collateral for issued loans - East Gate on Shchelkovskoye Highway and Technosintez on Ugreshskaya. And at the end of 2015, Exillon Energy acquired the promissory notes of the Yugra bank for a total amount of $ 26.32 million at an annual rate of 2.5%.

The growth of lending by Yugra to shareholder-related businesses may be due to industry-wide difficulties associated with finding new borrowers, who massively switched to state-owned banks against the background of the clearing out of the sector by the new leadership of the Central Bank, suggests Alexei Buzdalin, chief expert of Interfax-CEA. This may also be due to the problems of the owners' development business, which has become a more risky borrower in the eyes of other banks due to the economic recession, which led to a drop in rental income, the expert continues. According to Buzdalin, now no private bank can do without the help of shareholders.

Lending to related companies is one of the main claims of the Central Bank against the bank. Since April 1, the regulator has limited "Ugra" to attract deposits from the population - over the past year they grew by 136%. In March, the bank formed record reserves of 22 billion rubles. In addition, the bank's loan portfolio decreased by 23 billion rubles. These loans could be associated with the owners of the bank and could be repaid at the request of the Central Bank, the bank's counterparty told Vedomosti. The regulator, he said, sought from Ugra to reduce lending to related companies. The Central Bank has such a requirement for the bank, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said earlier.

The bank claimed 9.9 billion rubles of OFZs under the state program for additional capitalization of banks. But on the last day when it was possible to join, March 31, he announced his refusal to participate in the program, considering it inappropriate. The source of Vedomosti said then that the participation of the bank was not approved by the Central Bank. In early April, the bank received a check from the Central Bank and the Deposit Insurance Agency. The last check has already been completed. But the auditors of the Central Bank remained in Ugra, says one of its counterparties.

In April, people close to the Central Bank and Ugra's counterparties said that Gryzlov could join the bank's board of directors. Bank representatives did not comment on this, and Gryzlov could not be reached for comment.

Russian news

During the ceremony of the descent of the fire

Russia

Where does the blessed fire come from? The opinions of believers and skeptics