Sergei Bakeshin has commented to the Novy Prospect on the prospects of the Lenta founder’s bankruptcy petition

Usolie-Sibirsky Khimpharms Plant, a manufacturer of drug substances, has requested a court to declare bankrupt the pharmaceutical company Grotex of Oleg Zherebtsov, a billionaire founder of the Lenta chain. The companies have been in court for over a year over debts of 45 million rubles for the supply of several batches of the drug.

It is worth pointing out that Usolie-Sibirsky Khimpharms Plant is a town-forming enterprise that owes the local budget about 117 million rubles. Moreover, several bankruptcy petitions were filed against it at the beginning of 2021. Meanwhile, Grotex’s revenue at the end of 2019 was 8.3 billion roubles, the profit –72.7 million roubles.

There are six more court disputes over the recovery of 76 million roubles from Grotex in favour of Usolie-Sibirsky Khimpharms Plant for other deliveries under the same contract. “In addition, Usolie-Sibirsky Khimpharms Plant unsuccessfully tried to recover 215 million roubles of losses allegedly caused by Grotex’s refusal to perform the same contract,” Sergei Bakeshin, head of the dispute resolution and insolvency practice at Maxima Legal, told the Novy Prospect online edition.

In Sergei’s opinion, the plaintiff made a mistake by filing the bankruptcy petition to the court before the 15-day period since the announcement of the intention expired. “Since Usolie-Sibirsky Khimpharms Plant was in a hurry, the bankruptcy petition should be returned to it,” said Sergei Bakeshin, stressing that unless the decisions in favour of the plaintiff are overturned by higher courts, Grotex will of course pay its debts.

You can read the material on the pages of the online edition of the Novy Prospect >>>