Sergei Bakeshin told Novy Prospect about the situation with the bankruptcy of a number of Zhivoye Moloko holding companies

At the beginning of September, bankruptcy proceedings were terminated against Agroholding Zhivoye Moloko LLC, as well as its affiliated companies Agricultural Enterprise Koporie LLC and Ostrogovitsy LLC. Bankruptcy proceedings continue with regard to another company of the holding company Ros Agro LLC. The mentioned companies were previously part of the Phaeton holding and, according to market participants, are still affiliated with its structures. Two years ago Agroholding Zhivoye Moloko LLC attempted to sell its farms, but didn’t find the buyer.

Sergei Bakeshin, Head of Dispute Resolution and Insolvency Practice at Maxima Legal, told Novy Prospect that Sberbank filed for bankruptcy of Agroholding Zhivoye Molo LLC, Agricultural Enterprise Koporie LLC, Ostrogovitsy LLC and Ros Agro LLC in 2019. The expert specified that Ros Agro once received a loan (19 million rubles) from Sberbank, and Zhivoye Moloko, Ostrogovitsy and Koporie acted as guarantors.

“The bankruptcy petitions were related to late repayment of the loan. Between June 11th and November 30rd last year the loan was repaid by Pravda LLC (affiliated with Zhivoye Moloko enterprises according to SPARK data). At that time, Zhivoye Moloko had no other creditors except Sberbank. “Koporie appears to have repaid its debt to the creditor who applied for inclusion in the register (State Budgetary Institution of the Leningrad Oblast SBZ of the Gatchina district). As for Ostrohovitsy, they did not have time to introduce supervision,” Sergei explained.

In the specialist’s opinion, “the owners of the agricultural holding chose the easiest and most reliable way to clear the company – they repaid the debt to Sberbank”.

Sergei Bakeshin also pointed out that the situation with Ros Agro is more complicated, because several creditors filed claims against it, including JSC Udarnik, which used to be a part of Phaeton, but now is in bankruptcy itself. “Udarnik’s bankruptcy is affecting Ros Agro’s bankruptcy, making it impossible to stop the later one. In this situation it is quite difficult to agree on a debt restructuring with a bankrupt creditor, because the bankruptcy manager acting on behalf of such creditor is limited by the rules of the bankruptcy law,” said the expert.

However, according to Sergei, “Ros Agro still has a chance to restore its solvency. It is possible to sell an enterprise in bankruptcy, but its price will be significantly lower and the structure of the deal will be significantly more complicated.

To read the full article (in Russian) please visit Novy Prospect website >>>