| SBS-Agro depositors were paid at par The story of SBS-Agro, the largest bank that collapsed in 1998, is coming to an end. The report on his bankruptcy, submitted by the Agency for Restructuring of Credit Institutions, was approved by the court yesterday. It turned out that SBS-Agro investors who did not sign a settlement agreement with ARCO received 100% of their claims during bankruptcy proceedings (an average of $7 thousand each). According to analysts, the discount was over 40%. In general, 20 people who announced their claims less than a month ago were left without money.
According to the court decision, Alexander Smolensky Bank, once one of the five largest banks in Russia, no longer has defrauded creditors. As stated in the court ruling, all their claims are considered extinguished: the bank no longer has assets. Thus, the long-term history of ARCO settlements with one million SBS depositors ended. According to the agency, 95% of them received funds as part of the settlement agreement approved in the spring of 2001 (see information) . Several hundred investors decided to wait until the end of the bankruptcy proceedings, opened in February last year.
At that time, ARCO had at its disposal mandatory reserves of SBS-Agro and funds in its correspondent accounts totaling about 320 million rubles. In addition, somewhere near Tambov (one of ARCO’s top managers recalled), the sanatorium workers discovered an “excellent jeep” Toyota Land Cruiser, which was also on the balance sheet of Stolichny. Yesterday, a representative of the agency, quoted by Interfax, told the court that “vehicles belonging to SBS-Agro are not registered with the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate,” and there is no more money in his accounts, as well as in the accounts of the bankruptcy trustee. The bankruptcy estate amounted to 329.4 million rubles.
As expected, not all of the 4.5 thousand depositors who remained with the bank at the time of bankruptcy declared their demands on SBS-Agro. According to the agency, 1,139 investors who did not sign the settlement agreement received their money (according to the register of claims), for a total amount of 228.9 million rubles. “In fact, they received everything (an average of 7 thousand dollars - Ed. ),” says an ARCO representative. True, he notes, “the most persistent,” like those investors who signed the settlement agreement, received a settlement at the dollar exchange rate on the day SBS-Agro transferred under the agency’s management - 24.26 rubles. per dollar, and thus only for currency risk the discount to the amount of their claims at the time of bankruptcy was about 23%.
“The result of the bankruptcy of SBS-Agro is that investors received almost everything at par, no matter what payment scheme they chose,” notes Mikhail Matovnikov, head of the banking department of Interfax RA. Since the settlements within the framework of the settlement agreement, OVVZ quotes have been on the fifth and the eighth tranche of the Ministry of Finance received by depositors increased from 42-47% of the nominal to 92-94%. “That is, depositors lost practically nothing,” says the analyst. And taking into account the real discount at the rate of 10%, current calculations. at par with “patient” investors means that in 1998 they would have received 56% of their funds. “But settlements at par are the practice of all Russian bankruptcies,” notes Mr. Matovnikov. those who agreed to a settlement agreement and received the first money in the early 2000s.
Meanwhile, according to ARKO, the claims of 20 investors in the amount of 1.8 million rubles remained outstanding. “They submitted their claims after March 19 and there were not enough funds for them,” says an agency representative. However, some of these 20 people participate in public organizations of investors and may try to appeal the court decision within ten days. ARCO is not afraid of this: “These people have had several years to express their demands. It is not clear what their argument could be based on.” Apparently, Alexander Smolensky will still have investors who will receive, in his words, “the ears of a dead donkey.”
Meanwhile, the other day the Central Bank registered the new name of Mr. Smolensky’s bank - “Capital Credit Partnership” (formerly “North-Western OVK”), the chairman of the board of which is the son of the famous banker Nikolai Smolensky. So far, the bank and its creators are avoiding publicity, and the main intrigue is whether the Capital Credit Partnership will apply to join the deposit insurance system and work with individuals.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, investors receive up to 20 thousand rubles in cash, and the remaining amount of claims, a multiple of $1,000, was converted into domestic foreign currency loan bonds maturing in 2008 and 2007, and the rest into ten-month ARCO bills. Yuri VERETENNIKOV |
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