Alexander Vinokurov seizes pharmacy business in Russia

The son-in-law of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the raider in combination intend to reshape the pharmacy business in Russia in his favor.
18.05.2018
The Moscow Post
Origin source
New "methods" of distributors, among which "SIA International", owned by Alexander Vinokurov, with pharmacies can lead to a shortage of drugs and bankruptcy of the largest pharmacy chains. All this resembles a raider seizure of the market.

The proceeds of one of the largest Russian distributors of drugs Protek CV this year, according to the forecasts of the company's representatives will decrease by 6%. This is due to the new terms of cooperation of the distributor with pharmacies - from 2018 it requires retail financial support for commodity loans and surety agreements. As a result, some networks refused to provide security, respectively, they reduced the supply of drugs.

The new "methods" of work "Proteka" and pharmacies supported in the company "SIA International", where for a couple of years quite severely "knocked out" of the retail debts: for example, forfeits and interest for the use of funds. However, experts in the pharmaceutical market are confident that all pharmacies that could provide guarantees have already been provided, and it is unlikely that distributors will be able to achieve anything more.

Moreover, in recent years there have been mass bankruptcies of pharmacies. Perhaps, it is not a question of reducing the distribution debt of pharmacies, but of redistributing the pharmaceutical market in favor of the appearance of monopolists on it? Moreover, this redistribution is not entirely fair and more like a raider capture.

Should there be only one?

As the head of "SIA International" Sergey Piven, thanks to such ways of "knocking out" debts from drugstores, the company for two previous years has returned to itself about 5 billion rbl.

Given that the company's annual revenue in 2016 amounted to more than 46 billion rubles, and in the nine months of 2017, the turnover of "SIA" grew by 47%, 5 billion in two years - not so much money to drive partners from retail networks in the corner "draconian" requirements of financial guarantees of credit repayment and penalties. Moreover, many pharmacies in such conditions simply can not survive.

And maybe this is exactly what the owner of the "SIA", Mr. Vinokurov, needs? It is no coincidence that at the end of last year it was loudly announced about the imminent appearance on the pharmaceutical market of a producer and supplier of pharmaceutical products of federal scale?

These very goals were explained by Sergei Chemezov and Alexander Vinokurov to unite the pharmaceutical assets of the Rostekh corporation, which is managed by the first, and the investment company Marathon Group, whose president is the second. It was reported that the merged company will include the daughter company Rostekha - Natsimbio, as well as the distribution and production assets of the Marathon Group, in particular the distributor of drugs "SIA groups." The rapidity with which SIA, which as early as 2014 was actually on the verge of bankruptcy (it owed banks 7.2 billion rubles and could not service debts, some suppliers stopped shipping goods, and pharmacy networks - pay bills) returns its position in the market is amazing. According to Alexander Vinokurov, in the first half of 2017 "the company has risen to the fourth place in the ratings of the largest Russian pharmaceutical distributors."

Here, just and useful "Natsimbio", which has been for several years the only supplier of blood products and vaccines for the state. One, it seems, darkens the bright future of the new pharmaceutical king, which Mr. Vinokurov, it seems, has decided to become, are competitors.

As Vinokurov Repiku the road crossed

With one of his main competitors, Alexei Repik, the owner of R-Pharm, a monopolist for the supply of teriflunomide, Mr. Vinokurov faced in the process not completely, as the media reported, a "pure" acquisition of the SI International himself.

Actually, it was Repik who was the main contender for the purchase of not experiencing the best financial times "SIA". He even communicated with the then owner of the company Igor Rudinsky from August 2014 and, allegedly, signed a preliminary agreement on the sale.

The deal was supposed to take place in the fall, but Rudinsky flew to Germany for treatment, where he died in late October. And then "VIA" was interested in Alexander Vinokurov, because the company had such assets as the plants "Biochemist" in Saransk, "Synthesis" in Kurgan and "Biokom" in Stavropol. And, as the media reported, this interest was somewhat original. He entered the company's share capital in 2015, after which, as they wrote then, he initiated a loan of 5.4 billion rubles in the state bank VTB. And then the assets of Rudinsky's heirs became the object of an information attack.

Wrote about the Rudinsky bankruptcy. The license belonging to the late businessman "Nota Bank" was revoked. Market participants said that Vinokurov, allegedly using ties in state structures, put Rudinsky in a dependent position. Rudinsky could, in case of default, lose shares in favor of VTB, which would later realize the asset, most likely, Vinokurov. Against this background, to acquire "VIA International" Mr. Vinokurov became easy, which he did.

After that, Vinokurov's involvement in the scandal with the pharmacy chain "36.6", which was acquired by the concern "Rossium", controlled by the owner of the Moscow credit bank Roman Avdeev, "surfaced" in the media. It was said that Roman Avdeev could act in the interests of Vinokourov.

Business new - old methods

Evil tongues assure that the main "asset" of Alexander Vinokurov - his wife Catherine, the daughter of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Ostensibly, it was thanks to the patronage of the minister that Mr. Vinokurov became head of A1, an investment subdivision of Alfa Group.

However, it seems that Alexander Vinokurov has much more solid "virtues" than a relationship with Sergei Lavrov. And he built his business empire, which the media have been writing for a long time, on banal raiding.

It all began in the US investment fund TPG Capital in 2006, where Alexander Vinokurov settled. This fund committed a raider attack on the management of the Lenta trading network. In 2010, the press wrote that during the armed conflict, Jan Dunning, representing the interests of TPG Capital, took the office of the CEO of Lenta, replacing the current top manager, Sergei Yushchenko. At the same time, when Jan Dunning was in the office of Lenta, he was accompanied by several dozens of people from the ChOP, and the office itself was stormed - knocked out doors, intimidated employees, tear gas.

Then Alexander Vinokurov joined the Alfa Group. Under his direct leadership, large companies such as Eurodon, Stroyfarfor and many others were captured. So, on July 11, 2014, the gate of the Stroifarfor plant in the Rostov region was attacked by a group of unknown persons arriving by two buses. They were armed with traumatic and cold weapons, and soon the plant was almost completely captured.

The next "stage" in the career of Alexander Vinokurov was a conflict with the company "Yulmart." A war broke out between the company's shareholders and then they summoned Alexander Vinokurov to help. After that, the claims to the retailer from the side of Sberbank, containing the requirements of bankruptcy structures "Yulmart". Most likely it was another attempt to capture.

In search of a partner and patron

However, Mr. Vinokurov knows how to eliminate competitors, and quite legitimately. So, for example, in 2016, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and Leningrad region partially satisfied the claim of SIA-International LLC about the collection of 894 million rubles from ZAO Pharmakor. Because of such claims and other problems, the largest St. Petersburg pharmacy network has decreased significantly, and business has declined.

In Moscow, through the arbitration courts "SIA" with LLC "Status Farm", which owns the pharmacy network "Heart", 43.6 million rubles. It seems that Mr. Vinokourov literally attacked the pharmacy market.

But here it is also necessary to enlist the support of an influential partner. Counting on the help of his father-in-law is clearly not necessary, especially since Vinokurov's "activity" already cast a shadow on the reputation of one of the most popular ministers in Russia.

But Sergey Chemezov, who is not indifferent to pharmacy, is quite capable of providing such support to a young businessman. And the head of "Rostecha" is clearly not against such cooperation, after all, they say, he himself has long dreamed of monopolizing one of the most profitable markets in the country. Given that the federal budget allocates money not only for the purchase of medicines, but also for the development of domestic pharmaceuticals, the opportunities for enriching at the expense of the state from masters Vinogradov and Chemezov become unlimited.

And the fact that other market participants suffer from their plans and, most importantly, ordinary Russians, who take more and more expensive medicines, this, apparently, should be attributed to the "costs" of the redistribution of the market. When it comes to billions of profits, such "little things" are usually not taken into account.

At the same time, the appetites of "SIA groups" are serious - to strengthen positions in the budget segment. By the way, in 2016, SIA International concluded state contracts for a total of 22.6 million rubles, while in 2014 this figure was 1.1 billion rubles.

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