News and Updates

Independent evaluators confirmed the price of 58 hectares of land sold by Baturina to Premier Estate was fair

INTERFAX-REAL ESTATE

Leading independent appraiser – Finance-Appraisal-Consulting – has completed the valuation of 58 hectares of land in the west of Moscow, which “Ramenskaya” (the owner – Yelena Baturina) in May 2009, sold to Premier Estate for 12.6 billion rubles.

According to the report of Finance-Appraisal-Consulting, the value of this land at the time of the transaction in 2009, following evaluation, was set at 14.323 billion rubles. “The price of the transaction concluded in 2009 is fully consistent with the market realities of that time,” said Yuri Petrenko, General Director of Finance-Appraisal-Consulting.ИНТЕРФАКС-НЕДВИЖИМОСТЬ

Ведущий независимый оценщик – ООО «Финансы-Оценка-Консалтинг» (ФОК) – завершил оценку стоимости 58 га земли на Западе Москвы, которую ООО ТД «Раменская» (владелец – Елена Батурина) в мае 2009 года продало компании «Премьер Эстейт» за 12,6 млрд. руб.

Как следует из отчета ООО «ФОК», стоимость данной земли на момент совершения сделки в 2009 году, по итогам проведенной оценки, определена в размере 14,323 млрд. руб. «Цена совершенной в 2009 году сделки купли-продажи полностью соответствует рыночным реалиям того времени», – отметил гендиректор ООО «ФОК» Юрий Петренко

Соответствие данного отчета законодательству РФ также подтверждено членами экспертного совета СРО НП «Сообщество специалистов-оценщиков «СМАОс», которое является одним из крупнейших профессиональных объединений российских оценщиков, включающим в себя более 500 оценочных компаний из 80 регионов России. (more…)

Collateral damage; Russia’s banks; Fallout from the rescue of one of the country’s biggest lenders highlights concerns about links between politics and state-controlled businesses – and about the vigour of financial oversight

By Catherine Belton and Neil Buckley, Financial Times

On a snowy Friday evening in late March, Andrei Borodin received a call as he flew out of Moscow on a private jet. Then president of Bank of Moscow, Russia’s fifth-biggest, he found himself under mounting pressure as VTB, the state-controlled lender that is Russia’s second biggest, tried to take over his bank. Just hours earlier, the government’s budget watchdog had called for his suspension while it audited what it be-lieved were “dubious” loans to entities re-lated to Bank of Moscow. Police were also investigating him separately over a property loan the bank had made.

“Someone called me and said that on Monday the Russian police will officially accuse me of abusing my authority,” says Mr Borodin. He never flew back; today he is in exile in an undisclosed location. Within months, Bank of Moscow – a quasi-sovereign lender with shareholders including Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse – was at the centre of one of the nation’s largest corporate scandals of recent years. To fill an alleged hole in its accounts far bigger than previously suspected, the government agreed in July to extend its largest-ever bank bail-out. At Rbs395bn, then worth $14bn, it was equivalent to 1 per cent of economic output.

(more…)

Statement by Andrey Borodin

Bank of Moscow Case Sees New Development: Hostage-Taking.

Yesterday the Investigative Committee moved the court to arrest a number of individuals (details needed as media differ on who has been arrested) who have cooperated with Bank of Moscow. While the Tverskoi court has not caved in to the investigators and has set bail, the situation has taken a very sinister turn.

The investigators have sought the arrest of – and until bail is posted they will remain behind bars – completely innocent people. It was done despite numerous statements by the government leaders about the need to avoid applying such restraint measure to suspects in economic crimes.В деле Банка Москвы начинают появляться заложники.

Вчера следственный комитет обратился в суд с ходатайством об аресте ряда лиц (нужна детализация. СМИ расходятся в том, кого именно арестовали), сотрудничавших с Банком Москвы. И, хотя Тверской суд Москвы не пошел на поводу у следователей и вынес решение о залоге, тенденция прослеживается крайне удручающая.

Следствие попыталось арестовать – и до внесения залогов люди будут находиться за решеткой – ни в чем не повинных людей. Это было сделано несмотря на многочисленные заявления руководства страны о необходимости избегать такой меры пресечения для подозреваемых в экономических преступлениях. (more…)

Andrey Borodin: Victim or perpetrator? The former top banker is at the centre of one of Russia’s biggest financial scandals

Florian Willershausen, Handelsblatt

London and Moscow

He is standing before the ruins of his life – and yet Andrey Borodin seems anything but resigned or downcast. … Borodin is fighting for his reputation as a successful top banker. Let’s not forget, he built up the Bank of Moscow to be the fifth largest bank in Russia within 15 years.

(more…)

Who calls the tune? How and why Sobyanin, Kudrin and Andrey Kostin together are turning the former President of Bank of Moscow Andrey Borodin to dust.

Stringer

It soon will be half a year since the former president of Bank of Moscow Andrey Borodin was ousted out of the country through the use of all means of influence available to the state – ranging from the unprecedented persecution in the media to unwarranted initiation of a criminal case; while one of the leading Russian banks that he headed was taken over overnight in the most unfriendly way by the state-owned bank VTB. Why did this happen? The response of sceptics is simple: Borodin should not have run towards the high-speed train, he should not have confronted the state, even if the state is involved in raids, and you feel that you are right. Might makes right.

The story, which happened with the Bank of Moscow, is very simple. Following the resignation of Luzhkov a tasty piece of cake was left in sight, which the authorities decided to eat. Even if by violating the law. And they ate it, disregarding all the conventions. Who cares about the rights of minority shareholders? And why, for example, worry about the fact that, being by 85% a state structure, VTB simply had no legal right to participate in the privatization of Bank of Moscow, and the chosen privatization scheme through the Central Fuel Company was conducted with an obvious violation of law. What law is there to talk to about, when much in the country is still decided through a telephone call from above?

Read full article in Russian here.Stringer

Вот уже скоро стукнет полгода, как, из страны с использованием всех имеющихся у государства средств воздействия – от беспрецедентной травли в СМИ до необоснованного заведения уголовного дела – был выдавлен за границу бывший президент «Банка Москвы» Андрей Бородин, а возглавляемый им один из ведущих российских банков поглощен в одночасье самым недружественным образом государственным банком ВТБ. Почему так произошло? Ответ прожженных скептиков прост: не стоило Бородину бежать навстречу скоростному поезду, не надо было противостоять государству, даже если оно занимается банальным рейдерством, а ты чувствуешь за собой правоту. Против лома нет приема. (more…)

The knowledge question: VTB and Bank of Moscow

Alastair Marsh, FT Tilt

VTB had full knowledge of the state of Bank of Moscow’s balance sheet before taking operational control of the bank, according to former Bank of Moscow president Andrei Borodin.

In an interview with FT Tilt, Borodin said from the beginning of March VTB had full access to the capital city lender’s loan books and data room and was given an opportunity to sell out of the Moscow bank before consolidating a majority stake. (more…)

But the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes!

Blog of Vladimir Krasnov, Andrey Borodin’s Attorney, on the website of “Echo Moskvy” So, today Andrey Borodin made a very important statement (Borodin’s blog 31 August). As the lawyers say,…

Statement by Andrey Borodin

I must go on record in response to recent allegations of ‘criminal acts’ of which I am accused within Russian media. Again citing unnamed sources in the Interior Ministry of Russian Federation the reports purport to suggest that the Investigatory Department, which is apparently leading a preliminary investigation in to my actions while CEO of the Bank of Moscow is supposed to have alleged “virtually all loans were issued to Cyprus offshore companies,” and “instead of $63 million, which were present in the case earlier”, I and my colleagues, “may be (?) charged with the illegal issue of unsecured loans for more than $6 billion” (Kommersant, 29.08.2011).Не могу не ответить на появившиеся в последнее время в СМИ очередные заявления о моих «преступных деяниях». Вновь, ссылаясь на анонимные источники в МВД РФ, осуществляются попытки представить ситуацию так, что Следственный Департамент, который, по всей видимости, ведет предварительное следствие, обвиняет меня в том, что «практически все кредиты выдавались кипрским оффшорным компаниям», а «вместо $63 млн., которые фигурировали в деле ранее», мне и моим коллегам «может быть (?!) инкриминирована неправомерная выдача ничем не обеспеченных кредитов более чем на $6 млрд.» (Коммерсант, 29.08.2011).Ich muss mich zu den jüngsten Behauptungen bezüglich der ‚Straftaten‘ äußern, die mir in den russischen Medien vorgeworfen werden. Wiederholt werden anonyme Quellen im Innenministerium der Russischen Föderation zitiert, die den Anschein erwecken, dass der Untersuchungsausschuss, der derzeit erste Ermittlungen bezüglich meines Verhaltens als Geschäftsführer der Bank of Moscow durchführt, angeblich behauptet hat, dass „nahezu alle Darlehen an Briefkastenfirmen auf Zypern vergeben wurden“, und meine Kollegen und ich „an Stelle der 63 Millionen US-Dollar, von denen bisher die Rede war“, nun „möglicherweise (?) wegen der illegalen Vergabe ungesicherter Darlehen in Höhe von mehr als 6 Milliarden US-Dollar angeklagt werden“ (Kommersant, 29. August 2011). (more…)