April 19, 2019, 12:06 pm / Updated April 19, 2019, 2:40 pm / Finance

The owner of Yugra, Alexey Khotin, was detained

He is a defendant in the case of the theft of 7.5 billion rubles from a bank Irina Chevtaeva Anna Tretyak Daria Borisyak Danis Yumabaev Vitaly Petlevoy Anton Filatov

Evgeny Razumny / Vedomosti

The Investigative Committee of Russia announced the detention of the majority shareholder of Yugra Bank, Alexey Khotin. He is a defendant in the case of the theft of 7.5 billion rubles from the Yugra Bank. A criminal case has been initiated under Part 4 of Art. 160 of the Criminal Code (misappropriation or embezzlement), noted in the message of the Investigative Committee.

“In the near future, the investigation plans to petition the court to impose a preventive measure on him,” the press release says.

Vedomosti sent inquiries to the Central Bank and the DIA.

Why did Alexey Khotin fight with the Central Bank for Yugra Bank?

Finance / Banking

In July 2017, the Central Bank of Russia revoked the license of Bank Yugra. The collapse of this bank became the largest insurance event in the history of Russia with payments to depositors of about 173 billion rubles. According to Interfax CEA, at the time of the revocation of its license, the bank ranked 32nd in the Russian banking system in terms of assets. He attracted funds from the public and placed them in assets of unsatisfactory quality, without creating reserves for possible losses, and explained the reason for the revocation of the license to the regulator. According to the Central Bank, projects related to the beneficiaries were financed from the funds of individuals. As of July 1, 2017, loans related to business projects of the owners of Ugra accounted for almost 90% of the bank’s loan portfolio, said a representative of the Central Bank.

The bank tried to challenge the revocation of the license in court and went all the way to the Supreme Court, but ultimately lost the case. In September 2018, the court declared Ugra bankrupt. The bank's assets at this time were estimated at 34 billion rubles, liabilities - at 194.8 billion rubles.

“In the banking market, everything is assessed based on credit ratings. Ugra had no or very low ratings. Banks have always believed that this is an unreliable bank. After the license was revoked and the scale of the problems became clear, in such a situation this detention should have happened earlier (in a normal country). Another question is what was the role of Khotin himself, whether he was really a beneficiary, whether he gave real instructions - here the investigation will sort it out. The fact that more than 90% of the bank’s borrowers, after deprivation of its license, stopped paying their loans, clearly indicates that these were companies without a real business,” says Sergei Khotimsky, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sovcombank.

/ Vedomosti

What does Khotin own?

The main owner of Ugra was Khotin. According to the Central Bank as of December 2016, Khotin, through the Swiss Radamant Financial AG, controlled 52.4% of Ugra, and another 0.5% belonged to him directly. Forbes estimates his fortune at $700 million; Khotin ranks 154th in the ranking of the 200 richest businessmen in Russia.

Alexey Khotin and his father Yuri have been working in the Moscow real estate market for a long time. The Khotins' Complex Investments company is considered one of the largest rentiers in Russia. This year, it took 9th place in Forbes magazine’s list of “real estate kings” with an annual rental flow of $285 million. According to the publication, Complex Investments owns about 1 million square meters. m of offices, almost 130,000 sq. m of retail space, as well as the former Moscow Hotel (now Four Seasons Moscow) on Okhotny Ryad.

Where does the Khotin family get money from?

Real Estate / Commercial Real Estate

The consultants interviewed by Vedomosti were unable to accurately calculate the Khotins’ portfolio (according to Forbes, it is 1.8 million sq. m; in 2013, Vedomosti found more than 2 million sq. m of real estate in the family), since all the businessmen’s assets are located in different legal entities and it is impossible to determine exactly what they own today. In 2017, the Energy Insider portal reported on the sale of the Gorbushkin Dvor shopping center to Pharmstandard shareholder Viktor Kharitonin. Two people close to the businessmen and the Khotins’ creditor then said that Kharitonin would be the nominal owner of the complex, while the de facto owners remained the Khotins’ father and son.

In 2012, businessmen got involved in the oil business, purchasing 100% of the shares of NK Dulisma from Sberbank (they own the license for the Dulisminskoye oil and gas condensate field in the Irkutsk region). In 2013, Alexey Khotin acquired 30% of Exillon Energy (which produces hydrocarbons in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Komi). In the summer of 2014, Alrosa sold Irelyakhneft (produces oil in Western Yakutia) to Dulisma for 1.8 billion rubles. And in 2015, the Khotins acquired the Negusneft company from the founder of the Sintez group and former senator Leonid Lebedev, Forbes wrote.

In 2017, Yugra Bank received shares in nine companies (less than 20% everywhere) with licenses for 28 oil fields: Erbogachenskoye, Nizhnekirenskoye, Moktakonskoye, etc. As a result of tripartite transactions between Ugra, its borrowers and owners assets, loans worth more than 8 billion rubles were repaid. – through the transfer to the bank of pledged shares valued at 19.3 billion rubles.

Alfa Bank debtor

Khotin's structures are a major borrower of Alfa Bank , a bank representative told Vedomosti. He did not comment on the actions of the Investigative Committee. A settlement agreement was signed between Alexey Khotin and Alfa Bank at the end of 2017. Alfa Bank refused to disclose the size of its current debt.

In November 2017, the Meshchansky District Court upheld Alfa Bank’s claim against the main owner of Yugra Bank, Alexey Khotin. The case file on the court’s website indicated that the claim was related to the collection of amounts under a loan agreement; other details were missing. The total amount of the claim is $43.33 million, said Yulia Kotomina, press secretary of the Meshchansky District Court. A representative of Alfa Bank confirmed this information to Vedomosti. In December 2017, the parties agreed on the terms of a settlement agreement on claims for $700 million.

What kind of real estate did Ugra receive shortly before the collapse?

1 / 5

The consulting company SA Ricci estimated the market value of all 29 real estate properties in Ugra at 17–21 billion rubles. We are publishing a list of the five largest business centers in which Yugra received space shortly before <a href="https://www.vedomosti.ru/finance/articles/2017/07/10/717745-krah-yugri" target= "_blank">collapse</a>.<br><strong>BC "ABC"</strong><br>Semyonovsky lane, 6, near the Semyonovskaya metro station. Area - 6785 sq. m

/ Evgeny Razumny / Vedomosti