OJSC "Moscow Department Store"

Shareholder (SPARK-Interfax, 2009) – Dekanet Trading Limited (95.19%). Financial indicators (SPARK-Interfax, Q3 2009): revenue – 449.3 million rubles, net loss – 42 million rubles.

Shareholders of the Moscow Department Store OJSC are negotiating with Sberbank on the sale of the right to claim a loan issued to the OJSC by Latvian Parex Bank, a source close to one of the parties to the negotiations told Vedomosti. The information was confirmed by the CEO of the Moscow Department Store, Grigory Rabinovich, who specified that eight banks are participating in the negotiations – six Russian and two American (he declined to name them). The organizer of the negotiations is Carlton Group, says Rabinovich. According to him, “Carlton Group is organizing an auction in the US, during which interested banks will buy out the debt to Parex Bank under a cession agreement.”

A Carlton Group spokesman confirmed that the company was organizing talks between the department store's shareholders and the banks, but declined to name the participants. A Parex bank spokesman confirmed that the bank was interested in refinancing the Moskva department store's debt, but declined to comment further.

Sberbank has no current projects with OAO Moscow Department Store, a bank representative said.

OJSC Department Store Moscow owns a shopping center of the same name with an area of 22,000 sq. m on Leninsky Prospekt and managed the store until mid-2009. Now the department store is managed by the Management Company Stolichnye Department Stores (according to SPARK-Interfax, 98% of the company belongs to Rabinovich). According to Rabinovich, the total debt of OJSC Department Store Moscow is more than 1.3 billion rubles. The largest creditor is Parex Bank: the OJSC owes it 565 million rubles, with another 7.7 million rubles in penalties, according to the materials of the Moscow Arbitration Court. The department store building has been pledged as collateral for this debt. According to Renat Zhamaldinov from NEO Center, the market value of the building is about $60 million (approximately 1.73 billion rubles at the Central Bank exchange rate on March 2, 2010) excluding VAT. In December 2010, the Moscow Arbitration Court introduced bankruptcy proceedings against OAO Department Store Moskva based on a claim by individual entrepreneur Larisa Zharekhin (the amount of the claim is 13.9 million rubles).

Under bankruptcy management, it is possible to sell the right to claim a loan, says Dmitry Lobachev, a lawyer at Yukov, Khrenov and Partners.

In parallel with negotiations with Parex Bank, shareholders of the Moskva department store, according to Rabinovich, are negotiating with other creditors. This is being done by IK Osnova, says Rabinovich, and the CEO of this company, Andrei Levunin, confirms. Among the companies with which negotiations are underway, Rabinovich names Ural-finance, Duff-holding, IP Zharekhin and IP Zharekhin. The same receptionist answered the phones of all of them to Vedomosti, saying that they are located in the same complex of buildings. In December 2010, Ural-finance received an offer to conclude a settlement agreement from the shareholders of the department store, represented by Rabinovich, says the CEO of Ural-finance and the chairman of the creditors' committee, Vyacheslav Bakudkin. According to him, the OJSC also provided a debt repayment schedule of 204.9 million rubles, calculated until 2016, but Ural-finance did not agree to these terms. In December, creditors received an offer to conclude a settlement agreement for six years, but these terms did not suit them, says Ulyanitsky. He estimates the amount of the OJSC's debt to him at 10 million rubles.

"Moscow" is looking for a buyer