One of the leading fishing companies in the Russian Federation, Russian Crab LLC, has been transformed into a joint-stock company - the Central Bank has already decided on the state registration of its shares, but so far there is no talk of an IPO and it is not clear whether its securities will be sold on the open market. It seems that all this is done by the beneficiary to strengthen control over the structure.
Son-in-law of billionaire Timchenko
The sole founder of the organization is Ost Invest Holding LLC, which, as a result, will transfer 100% of the shares of Russian Crab, after which the organization will dispose of them as it sees fit. However, this is the first link in the line of copyright holders. The founders of Ost Invest Holding are now Elbrus Partners LLC and one of its owners, Yevgeny Petrov. The scheme is cunning and hides the real beneficiary.
The legal wilds began after the company was indirectly hit by Western sanctions. Entrepreneur Gleb Frank was included in the SDN list of the US Treasury and was forced to sell a 29.9% stake in the capital of the Russian fishing company. Thanks to this, Ost Invest Holding LLC became its owner with a 99.9% stake. The same story happened with Russian Crab LLC, the second "daughter" of this structure.
Gleb Frank. Photo: https://uznayvse.ru/znamenitosti/biografiya-gleb-frank.html
Frank is the son of the former Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Sergei Frank and the son-in-law of billionaire Gennady Timchenko, and this business is clearly the main beneficiary.
In 2022, Frank sold his shares in Russian Crab and the Russian Fishing Company to top managers Yevgeny Orlov, Anton Chertkov, Alexander Sapozhnikov, Savely Karpukhin and Stanislav Aksenov. The transactions allegedly took place on market conditions, but the amounts were never named. Today Orlov, Aksenov and Karpukhin are the founders of Elbrus Partners LLC.
This scheme was needed in order to save the business from the frank sanctions shadow, but the entrepreneur himself did not go far, and the appointment of zits-chairmen of Pounds in our country has been known since the time of the "tsar" Simeon Bekbulatovich.
There are many interesting piles here - for example, Chertkov was also the head of EVERMOUNT CAPITAL GROUP LLC, which belongs to the co-owner of Frutonyani Olga Belyavtseva and her likely husband Visa Mizaev, better known by the nickname Viskhan. Consideration of the crab business shakes us from Timchenko's son-in-law to the authority of Viskhan, and from them pushes us to the governor of the second most important region of the country.
Partner of the brother of the governor of the Moscow region
Frank's main structure remains the Russian Fishing Company, which he founded in 2011 and then developed with the help of his father and father-in-law. His partner then was Maxim Vorobyov - the brother of the Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyov, but then, apparently, the roads of the companions parted. In 2018, Frank becomes the sole owner of this structure, which he formally sold to his top managers in 2022.
Andrey Vorobyov. Photo: https://www.9111.ru/questions/77777777722633964/
It is interesting that Andrei Vorobyov founded Bogorodsk-ryba CJSC and Russian Sea CJSC in the nineties. Then his younger brother Maxim became their owners. This happened after the politician first became an assistant to Sergei Shoigu, and then headed the Interregional Support Fund for United Russia. A decade later, Shoigu will transfer Vorobyov and the Moscow region, and he will go to steer the Russian Defense Ministry. What did this lead to we know in the case of Timur Ivanov, who repeated Vorobyov's career in miniature, but with a tragic ending in the form of an arrest for corruption.
The Vorobyovs never forgot about the fish business, so it is not surprising that Maxim Vorobyov in the tenths was closely associated with Frank in the "Russian crab" and the Russian fishing company. Surely even now they can talk and close all questions. Moreover, Andrei Vorobyov is in good contact with Timchenko.
Seafood Market Interception
In 2018, Frank, together with the Russian fishing company, began to remake the market for themselves. At first, the historical principle of catching marine biological resources, when the same structure works in one place at sea, began to gradually change to auction, and Frank's organization received a third of all lots. The entrepreneur lobbied for such a decision, appealing to Western experience and to the fact that foreign competitors allegedly have higher financial returns. In Russia, they like to remember the West in order to redo something.
Gennady Timchenko. Photo: https://rcbc.ru/ru/news/gennadij-timchenko-schitaet-vozmozhnym-skoryj-vyhod-sibura-na-ipo/
The statement is controversial, but Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin listened to these arguments and agreed to increase the share of promotional quotas in the seafood market. Apparently, the argument about the readiness to update the fishing fleet affected, but how can one not believe the son-in-law of the most influential businessman Timchenko? Most of all, the subsidiaries of Russian Crab LLC were outraged by the decision to update quotas.
At the same time, the "crab king" of Primorye Oleg Kan fell under the distribution, who was accused of smuggling and murder ten years ago, which caused a regional scandal in the Primorsky Territory, after which all the crabs "sailed" to Frank. Kahn is currently sentenced in absentia to 17 years in prison and is hiding abroad.
Further more: Frank's companies have seriously benefited from the idea of the Government of the Russian Federation to restrict the export of red fish, which hurt small players and created advantages for market leaders. Here Frank had a common interest with Vitaly Orlov's rival Norebo holding.
The actions of competitors took on such a partnership character that such cooperation began to be called a cartel conspiracy. Perhaps the transformation of Russian Crab into a joint-stock company is connected with the desire of counterparties to exchange shares with each other and thus merge into a single fish and crab conglomerate.
Kozhemyako factor
The main competitor of Frank in the fishery was the governor of Primorsky Krai Oleg Kozhemyako, who lobbied for a large redistribution of spheres of influence on the eve of the start of the SVO in January 2022. Then Rosrybolovstvo considered a new rule, according to which 70% of the fish caught should be processed at coastal factories.
Oleg Kozhemyako. Photo: https://uznayvse.ru/znamenitosti/biografiya-oleg-kozhemyako.html
Kozhemyako, who before the Primorsky Territory was the governor of the Amur and Sakhalin regions, seriously succeeded here. His family members are listed as the owners of a large number of seafood processing enterprises. It is beneficial for them that the state relies on a full production cycle.
The Kozhemyako family has built a kind of monopoly, as a result of which other players, including Frank, cannot do without the head of Primorye. However, business is not the skill of war, but the skill of agreements, so there is no doubt that the parties, if necessary, will quickly agree on everything, especially with such exits to Moscow.
Why does Frank need the incorporation of the Russian Crab after all this? It's about the legal nuances. It is impossible to be in the shadows indefinitely, and the transition to the auction basis will allow you to effectively distribute papers. The entrepreneur trusts his top managers, but, as they say, trust and check, and it is better to be calm in your soul.