Sergei Bakeshin has provided his comments to RBC on the bankruptcy of a major St Petersburg entrepreneur

In 2018, Mikhail Tevelev, co-founder and former owner of the Food Retail Group holding, was declared bankrupt, with the property sale procedure currently being applied to him. Food Retail Group was established in 2003, and the portfolio of assets included, including Two Sticks, Marcellis, Library, as well as the entertainment center Maza Park and Swissam Business School.

The Head of the Dispute Resolution and Insolvency practice at Maxima Legal, Sergei Bakeshin, suggested that the chances of creditors of Mikhail Tevelev receiving repays is low. Sergei explained to RBC Petersburg that the administrators found a BMW 750 and Porsche Cayenne cars, about 100 thousand rubles in bank accounts and shares in half a dozen legal entities with a total value of more than 49 million rubles. At the same time, the aggregate amount of the claims of creditors exceeds 13 billion rubles. However, more than 10 billion rubles of debts are guaranteed by Mikhail Tevelev through loans from Interkommerts Bank, which is also in the process of bankruptcy.

Sergei also noted that, according to the law, Mikhail Tevelev has no right to participate in the management of legal entities for three years from the date of bankruptcy, including holding positions in their management bodies. “After this, whether Mikhail Tevelev will be able to raise funds to open a new business, will depend on the trust and goodwill of potential lenders or co-investors”, concluded Sergei.

To read the article in full (in Russian), please see RBC Petersburg’s website >>>