Nominal owners, offshore accounts, and billions drained: How Russian elites exploit the country through Samolet Group
The construction "laundromat" of nationwide scale, GC "Samolet," backed by the Vorobyev-Shoygu clan and Gennadiy Timchenko, has found itself on the brink of a financial abyss.
By the end of 2023 and the first half of 2024, GC "Samolet" topped the ranking of Russian developers, surpassing GC "PIK." Last week, GC "Samolet" took first place in the ranking for the number of regions it is constructing in, totaling 6 - Leningrad Region, Saint Petersburg, Primorsky Krai, Sakhalin Region, Zabaykalsky Krai, and Murmansk Region. If the developer collapses, the scandal will resonate across Russia.
Recently, there have been many publications about the dire financial state of GC "Samolet," allegedly influenced by a sharp increase in the central bank rate and the reduction of preferential mortgages. However, no one seems to connect the developer’s downfall with the dismantling of Sergey Shoigu’s clan, a close friend of Senator Yuriy Vorobyev, father of the Moscow Region governor and oligarch Gennadiy Timchenko. The latter had strong ties with the arrested former Deputy Shoigu Timur Ivanov and is now doing everything possible to distance himself from his projects with the Ministry of Defence.
GC "Samolet" became a "victim" of the Kremlin tower war and may change owners as a result. As of today, they are considered to be Mikhail Kenin and Pavel Golubkov. However, they play the role of figureheads representing the interests of Gennadiy Timchenko.
According to many sources, Kenin is looking for a buyer for his stake in GC "Samolet," but the businessman himself denies this. Previously, billionaire God Nisanov exited the company’s shareholders. Rats are fleeing the construction ship GC "Samolet," which will likely go to the state.
However, according to official data, LLC "Klikway," owned by Kenin, left the structure of LLC "AVK" (a founder of PJSC "Inarctica") back in January 2023. This will be "good" news for the singer Shaman, who had a romance with Michelle Kenina, the daughter of a billionaire who turned out to be a "soap bubble." Kenin’s companies’ revenue in 2023 was 420 thousand rubles, with a loss of 78 million rubles, and the value of stakes in companies as much as 3.5 million rubles.
Pavel Golubkov, the second owner of GC "Samolet," turned out to be slightly wealthier, the owner of LLC "Legal Agency ’Moskoviya,’" who, according to Forbes magazine, is a dollar billionaire.
The financial performance of both businessmen confirms they have nothing to do with serious business and serve as a "screen" for Gennadiy Timchenko’s projects. Mikhail Kenin became a shareholder of Stroytransgaz Holding Limited (STGH), which included Timchenko’s construction assets, back in 2013.
In 2011, the oligarch, together with Maxim Vorobyev, acquired JSC "Russian Sea," renamed "Russian Aquaculture" in 2015. After sanctions against Gennadiy Timchenko were introduced, he sold his share to his son-in-law Gleb Frank, who, in turn, sold it to Mikhail Kenin in 2016. All this only confirms that Kenin is not an independent figure.
Despite leading positions in various rankings, GC "Samolet" announced last week that its bonds are trading at a 40% discount, and thus the company plans to buy them back. The statement was made by the newly appointed CEO of GC, Anna Akinshina, who was appointed at the end of November. Previously, she held the position of the company’s CFO. It seems that Akinshina is being made a scapegoat. Earlier, GC "Samolet" announced the intention to postpone projects for 2 million sq. meters.
Anna Akinshina replaced Andrey Ivanenko as CEO of PJSC "GC ’Samolet,’" who was appointed in March following the departure of Anton Elistratov, who had been leading the PJSC since 2019. Ivanenko allegedly brought the company 40 billion rubles, but even this amount did not save it.
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The financial condition of GC "Samolet" might also have been undermined by the acquisition of developer "MIC" Andrey Ryabinskiy in autumn last year, for which 45 billion rubles were spent. At that time, various sources reported that many of "MIC’s" structures were shell companies pledged to the state bank "DOM.RF".
In 2023, PJSC GC "Samolet" made 6.8 billion rubles in revenue and 7.7 billion rubles in profit. It would seem that all is well with the company’s financial condition. However, an analysis of its structures’ activities suggests possible money siphoning from Russian banks through the group’s structures.
The stake of LLC "Samolet-Regions" in LLC "SPB Renovation" has been pledged to Alfa-Bank since autumn 2023. LLC "Samolet-Regions," with revenue of 442 million rubles, posted a loss of 1.2 billion rubles, compared to 390 million rubles in 2022. The bank’s assistance to GC "Samolet" clearly did not help, or the money was siphoned off.
The average monthly salary of the 6 employees of LLC "Samolet-Regions" in 2023 was 576,769 rubles, a decrease of 147,467 rubles from 2022. It’s unclear why such money is paid in a loss-making structure.
50% of the stake of PJSC "GC ’Samolet’" in LLC "SZ ’Samolet-Olymp’" has been encumbered by the "Moscow Credit Bank" (MCB) since April 2023. LLC "SZ ’Samolet-Olymp’" has been operating at a loss since 2017, with losses totaling more than 200 million rubles.
In LLC "SZ ’Bay Land,’" the stake of PJSC "GC ’Samolet’" has been pledged to the bank "DOM.RF" since October 2022. It is probably because of this that the company made a profit of 1.2 billion rubles that year, and in 2023 went into a deficit of 1.9 billion rubles.
Since 2019, LLC "SZ ’Milvertin’" has been running at a loss, with a total amount of 1.3 billion rubles. LLC "Megastroi-M" went into a 282 million ruble deficit in 2023. GC "Samolet" has about four dozen companies, but even a cursory analysis of their activities shows a dire financial picture. The group operates like a construction pyramid, receiving money from banks for new projects secured by its old structures.
Oligarch Gennadiy Timchenko is a close friend of Vladimir Putin, so neither law enforcement nor tax authorities have questions for GC "Samolet." It is like a sacred cow being "milked" by the Russian authorities. And the money ends up in the pockets of Timchenko, Shoigu, and others who managed to latch onto the company.
But it seems that those who stand on the same level as Gennadiy Timchenko - the same Kovalchuk brothers, who are considered the initiators of Sergey Shoigu’s resignation - have already set their sights on it. If the owner changes, nothing will change in GC "Samolet’s" operations. The money will simply flow into another pro-Kremlin pocket.
