Moshkovich, Zotov and takeover in swine

According to UtroNews correspondent, the Agro-Belogorye agricultural group of companies, 100% of whose capital recently came under the control of Rusagro Group of Companies, oligarch Vadim Moshkovich, refused to recover about 2 billion rubles from the former beneficiaries of the structure of Vladimir Zotov and Larisa Kovaleva.

It is noteworthy that this happened just a week after Rusagro consolidated its stake in Agro-Belogorye. Earlier, within the framework of the same group of companies, there was a large-scale corporate conflict between the structure of Moshkovich and Zotov. Thus, it is completed, and Zotov was left without the business empire he founded. According to the Web, the alleged actions of Vadim Moshkovich were nothing more than a raider seizure of the enterprise.

The fact that Rusagro closed the deal to consolidate the capital of Agro-Belogorye became known on November 13. The amount of the transaction could be about 1 billion rubles. Thanks to the acquisition of the share of Vladimir Zotov and Larisa Kovaleva, Moshkovich's company overnight turned into the second largest pork producer in the country.

Immediately after that, Vadim Moshkovich held the position of general director of the structure Dmitry Laburtsev from January 2021, who held the position of operational director of the agricultural business direction of Rusagro. Previously, the post of general director was held by Larisa Kovaleva, loyal to Zotov, who owned 5% of the holding's shares.

Vladimir Zotov had to part with his business. Photo: https://www.belnovosti.ru/files/img_0094.jpg

And today, November 20, it became known that the Agro-Belogorye Group of Companies, which was under the full control of Moshkovich, sent a petition to the court to refuse the claim for the recovery of 2 billion rubles from Zotov and Kovaleva. It was in this amount that the alleged losses of the company were estimated, which they wanted to recover in solidarity in the interests of the holding. Initially, this amount was presented only to Zotov. At the same time, the Rusagro Group of Companies and the Federal Tax Service for the Belgorod Region acted as third parties in the case. Those. it is obvious that all this was the idea of ​ ​ the co-owner of the company Vadim Moshkovich.

A reasonable question arises: were there any losses at all, or was this whole trial, clearly initiated by Mr. Moshkovich, invented only with the aim of putting pressure on Vladimir Zotov and Larisa Kovaleva, who did not want to sell their share to the oligarch Moshkovich?

How events unfolded

Briefly recall the chronology of events. In 2019, Rusagro Moshkovich bought 22.5% of Agro-Belogorye from Voronezh businessman Alexander Solovyov. The founder of the company, Vladimir Zotov, had 72.5% of the structure, another 5% was with Larisa Kovaleva. At the same time, the parties announced a plan to unite Agro-Belogorye and Rusagro into one large structure, and even signed agreements of intent.

However, it seems that Zotov did not like something - perhaps he assumed that in the end he would simply be put out of the general business. And together with Kovaleva, he withdrew from the agreement. After that, a large-scale corporate conflict began.

Among other things, Rusagro went to court to oblige Zotov and Kovaleva to conclude an agreement on the establishment of a legal entity, as well as to force the holding to conduct an audit, which could be an element of pressure on Zotov. As a result, the court seized the shares of Zotov and Kovaleva as part of the lawsuit. Thus, they lost the ability to carry out any actions with the company's shares.

At the same time, earlier Vladimir Zotov transferred 25% of his stake in Russian Metal JSC at a nominal price of 2.5 thousand rubles. A little later, Zotov became the owner of the same JSC, and such a step could probably be an attempt to preserve a quarter of the company's shares from any unfair actions on the part of Vadim Moshkovich and his team. However, here Zotov lost. In connection with the priority right to acquire a stake in Agro-Belogorye, Rusagro considered the deal "fake," and Zotov's behavior was illegal.

As a result, Moshkovich's company sued, demanding the right to redeem the share, and won it. Zotov could not challenge this decision. Thus, those 25% left Rusagro, which began to own 47.5% of the shares of the Belgorod group of companies.

However, the remaining shares, more than half of the holding, and therefore a controlling stake, remained with Zotov and Kovaleva. The corporate conflict continued.

Another major trial between the teams of Moshkovich and Zotov unfolded in April this year. The dispute concerned a meeting of participants in Agro-Belogorye LLC, which included Vladimir Zotov and Larisa Kovaleva as directors, as well as Eduard Bendersky, who elected an investor to the board of directors, who allocated 500 million rubles for charitable purposes. Rusagro representatives were not allowed to vote due to an incorrectly drawn up power of attorney. As a result, the company has achieved recognition of the above decisions as invalid.

Vadim Moshkovich still got his way. Photo: https://avatars.dzeninfra.ru/get-zen_doc/1904927/pub_5d8e8d202beb4900b3037253_5d8e8de04e057700b18dbf8c/scale_1200

Finally, in the same April 2024, probably to finally pacify Mr. Zotov, the Agro-Belogorye Group of Companies, which was already largely controlled by Moshkovich's team, filed a lawsuit for 2 billion rubles against Zotov and Kovaleva. Allegedly, they caused some losses to the holding and should be jointly and severally liable. What kind of losses, from what - is still not clear. And now it doesn't matter, because the structure sent a petition to withdraw the claim.

Thus, all this is very similar to the large-scale and consistent pressure on Zotov in order to obtain 100% of the Agro-Belogorye Group of Companies. It is possible that Zotov, tired of the struggle, himself could go to meet Moshkovich. But doesn't it feel like a raider takeover?

Moshkovich and "skeletons" around "Agro-Belogorye"

Meanwhile, around this story there are still a lot of scandals and skeletons in the closet, which should be assessed by law enforcement officers. For example, in 2019, three months after Rusagro acquired 22.5% of Agro-Belogorye for 8.5 billion rubles, the same Group of Companies transferred its stake to Ros Agro PLC offshore, behind which Moshkovich should stand. After that, for 2.5 years, the dividends of the Belgorod group could be banally withdrawn from Russia. And then the same offshore company transferred the same share back to Rusagro, but for 12 billion rubles, i.e. much more expensive.

It would seem that Rusagro itself should have suffered serious losses from such a deal. However, according to the Web, allegedly Moshkovich's holding suffered losses only on paper, but in fact could make good money. And Russian interests and the budget of our country, which could receive less taxes, could suffer. Here you can recall the criminal case of the management of the Rolf car dealer, which was convicted of withdrawing 4 billion rubles from the country according to a similar "scheme."

Another interesting point: in September 2024, a number of authoritative media outlets disseminated information about the presence of a certain document, which was called the "instruction" for the takeover of Agro-Belogorye by Rusagro Group of Companies. In another situation, such a document could be designated differently - a plan for a possible raider seizure.

It is still unknown whether this is a real document, or an element of information struggle. But in the "plan" it was five points. And the first of them was to transfer the 12.5% ​ ​ share of Agro-Belogorye to the trust management of the Belgorod region. And with the complete absorption of the company by the Moshkovich structure, the region was allegedly supposed to transfer 25-49% of the structure.

This was followed by a clause on obtaining a 25% share of Vladimir Zotov and 5% of Larisa Kovaleva, with her subsequent exclusion from society "for illegal actions to withdraw 6 billion rubles from the company." The last point there is the challenge of transactions for the alienation of part of the property of the Belgorod group, which allegedly occurred at low prices, and compensation for losses caused by Mr. Zotov.

This "plan" can be interpreted in different ways. As we know, in reality it turned out a little differently. But this suggests that the points with the transfer of shares to the Belgorod region could be aimed at obtaining support for the takeover of Agro-Belogorye by Moshkovich from the authorities. In addition, the same "plan" hints that court and even criminal claims could be brought against Larisa Kovaleva.

In any case, as a result, Vadim Moshkovich won, and Vladimir Zotov lost. And in fact, the Russian state should pay attention to the situation. After all, Mr. Moshkovich is an offshore oligarch with an extremely dubious reputation. Recall that earlier he tried to challenge the sanctions against his structures in the European Court and actually renounced the policy of Russia and its President. We are no longer talking about the fact that he did not support the SVO.

Moshkovich, Zotov and takeover in swine. Photo: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=280746&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=7882699

All this has already caused bewilderment among Russian politicians. In April 2024, it became known that the Ministry of Justice would consider the issue of a group of State Duma deputies on the recognition of Vadim Moshkovich as a foreign agent.

Apparently, this situation was released on the brakes. And in vain. And then one should not be surprised if the assets and money earned by Agro-Belogorye in Russia end up in one of Vadim Moshkovich's "money boxes" in Cyprus.