Andrei Grudin wanted to sell Pioneer Group of Companies to Moscow Credit Bank

Yesterday, July 1, in St. Petersburg, the funeral of the co-owner of Pioneer Group of Companies Andrei Grudin took place, and the day before - a farewell to a businessman in Moscow.
02.07.2020
Kompania
Origin source
Among the versions of the tragedy, the most likely is the businessman’s unwillingness to lose control of his brainchild as a result of a loan agreement with Moscow Credit Bank (MKB). “Turn everything back!” - Grudin addresses his friend and partner in Pioneer in a suicide note. Why the situation with the ICD seemed to the developer to be hopeless, the magazine “Company” was investigating.

Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin, billionaires Alexander Svetakov, Igor Sosin and Ruben Vardanyan, Moscow City Duma deputy Oleg Soroka, Pioneer employees, a total of about a thousand people arrived in the Hall on Shluzova Embankment, 2/1. Grudin is buried next to the grave of his mother. About this "Ko" learned from the friends of the deceased.

On June 27, co-owner of Pioneer Group of Companies Andrei Grudin (50 years old) died in his office on Malaya Pirogovskaya Street 3. According to investigators, it was a suicide with a gun. The businessman’s wife, who discovered him dead, talks about his depression and what he thought about suicide, he knows Komsomolskaya Pravda. Grudin has three children left - two daughters, one of whom studied in Lausanne and lives in London, and a son of eight years.

Grudin’s wife Olga found a rifle club membership card among her husband’s documents, a long-time friend of Grudin, Maxim Artsinovich, owner of MaximiliaN-London jewelry house, told Ko. “We have been friends since 95, Andrei never used drugs, sometimes he could drink a glass of wine at dinner, he didn’t smoke, he went in for sports every day for two hours. He had an absolutely stable psyche. Olga says that he drank antidepressants. Who wrote them to him and why? - continues Artsinovich. - Business is chess! And Andrei was a champion in business. Never ventured beyond measure. He would never expose his family and children to the risks of losing all his property and his usual quality of life. He loved children immensely. He could still live and create for 40-50 years with the medicine of the future and with his condition. For 25 years in business, I have seen a lot of scammers and crooks, but Andrei was a crystal-clear honest man who always kept his word. Now the main thing is that his family does not lose what is rightfully theirs. Olga is a strong woman, she has a huge responsibility now. ”

Co-founder of the online retailer Yulmart, investor Dmitry Kostygin has known Andrei Grudin for 25 years: “Once a quarter, my friends and I go to the shooting range, but Andrei was never interested in shooting. Normally, when a person acquires a weapon, he boasts and tells everyone. Buying a weapon and shutting up is somehow strange. Although Andrei was an open person. ”

Olga Grudina did not answer the questions of "Ko" in WhatsApp.

None of the friends who knew Grudin for 20–25 years did not believe that he could kill himself, and they wondered who could bring him to such a state.

Suicide occurred in the office, which was once occupied by a friend of Andrei Grudin Alexei Zagorovsky, a former executive director of Nord Stream.

Grudin left a suicide note, from which it follows that he intended to sell the MKB company. The main owner of the ICD, Roman Avdeev, read the “Ko” question on WhatsApp, but did not comment on the situation.

Here is the text of the note mentioning Leonid Maksimov (Lenya), another owner of Pioneer Group of Companies: “Family. Take care of yourself and do not repeat my mistakes. Do you have a general power of attorney (Ivanov). Lenya. I really appreciate you. You are a good partner. Sorry to have started all this with ICD. I understand now that I do not want to sell the Pioneer. This is a part of me. Without this, I am not me. Turn it all back! This will remove a large loan burden on the Pioneer and I hope you will continue to work, and you will pay affordable interest to my family. Forgive me everything. ” The full text of the note is REN TV.

Pioneer Group of Companies was established in 2001 and is owned equally by Andrei Grudin and Leonid Maksimov. The partners met in Moscow, working as distributors of the Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant, and they were selling rolled metal. The first Vanguard house with an unusual colored facade they built in New Cheryomushki in 2006. In total, the company built 3 million square meters. m. To date, "Pioneer" is building 596 thousand square meters. m of housing, mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

June 26, the day before the death of Grudin, the IBC provided GC Pioneer a loan of 5.33 billion rubles. for five years. With this money, a short-term loan from Sberbank was repaid, the press service of the group said. The press service of Pioneer Group of Companies writes that the company has a good financial position. Her revenue reached a record 40 billion rubles. (plus 42% year-on-year), net profit - 7.6 billion rubles. The death of the founder of the company is not related to the financial situation of the company, according to a press release issued after the death of Andrei Grudin.

Pioneer’s payables almost doubled last year, exceeding 11 billion rubles. And this IBC loan, issued by Pioneer on the eve of the death of the co-owner, may indicate that the developer did not have the funds to pay Sberbank from the current revenue. And the debt itself is more than 11 billion rubles. and remained that way, the developer simply re-credited. However, Pioneer Group of Companies could be re-credited to the IBC in order to pay off Sberbank, because the latter did not lower interest rates on loans and its money was more expensive than that of the IBC.

Sberbank says that “interest rates on bank loans for developers are mid-market and absolutely competitive for major developers. Sberbank and Pioneer are long-standing partners, and we look forward to continuing effective cooperation with the client. ”

Moscow credit bank

PJSC Moscow Credit Bank takes 7th place among Russian banks in terms of assets, with a market share of 2.76%, Expert RA.

The main shareholder is Roman Avdeev (59.64%), 8.56% of the IBC is owned by Region. Region Group of Companies is associated with Rosneft. Structures of Rosneft invested 22 billion rubles in the capital of Moscow Credit Bank. for 49 years. And the "Region" with this money.

It is worth recalling that Rosneft absorbed the assets of the oil companies Yukos and Bashneft. The owners of the first - Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev - left their real terms, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the ex-owner of Bashneft, was under house arrest.

ICD is aggressive (+21.8% - increase in assets and +16% - increase in loan portfolio, as of May 1).

Another company of Roman Avdeev and Group of Companies “Region” - “Ingrad” - also demonstrates the growth of indicators and is preparing for an IPO. In the first quarter of 2020, the company sold real estate 93% more than in the same reporting period of 2019 (a total of 21.4 billion rubles). A new asset in the form of Pioneer Group of Companies with their very high-quality projects could attract Ingrad investors.

The situation is such that Andrei Grudin, taking a loan for Pioneer Group of Companies in MKB, could give control of his company to MKB shareholders - Roman Avdeev and Region Group. Grudin could not accept this course of events and committed suicide. In his note, Grudin asks his business partner Leonid Maksimov to cancel the loan deal and the possible takeover of Pioneer as a matter already decided. Oleg Soroka, a member of the Pioneer board of directors, refused to answer the Ko question about the version of Andrei Grudin's suicide, saying that it was set out in a press release.

In Russia, after the crisis of 2008 and the 2014 Olympics, many large businessmen lost their development and construction companies. Sergey Polonsky - Mirax Group, Yuri Zhukov and Kirill Pisarev - PIK Group of Companies, Efim Basin - Inzhtransstroy Corporation, Vladimir Yevtushenkov - Hals Development, Maxim Blazhko and Dmitry Zelenov - Don-Stroy, Oleg Shishov - NPO Mostovik, Mikhail Balakin - SU-155.

Market participants about Andrei Grudin

The owner of Webster Konstantin Kovalev: “Now Pioneer is forced to refinance to pay off debts. No one will give a decent price for a company that generates negative cash flow. Another would have been calm about not being able to pay off debts. Andrew is not like that. Others would plunder the company, take out assets, but he couldn’t do that. Andrei Grudin is an intellectual to the bone. Therefore, such a tragedy happened to him. ”

General Director of RosinvestHotel Kirill Irtyuga: “It’s not that I knew Andrey well. The last time we talked half a year ago, discussed the implementation of their Yes Aparthotel project. We also manage apartment hotels. We thought together to develop the project in the regions, did not agree. Now this business is not easy, plus there is competition from Dom.RF in the form of apartment buildings. At "Dom.RF" - money is more accessible and more resources than at "Pioneer". Two days before Andrei died, Pioneer announced the start of the sale of franchises for the Yes apart-hotel project. Since 2001, he pulled the strap of his own business, went through so many crises. And suddenly a “credit history" and a bullet in the head ... Andrei is cheerful, correct. But at the same time, a closed person who didn’t let everyone near him. He thinks clearly, clearly, he is a solid person in business, if you came to him to negotiate, then these are not chasing teas. He’s definitely not a wimp. ”

General Director of VHD Management Ivan Bogatov (ex-General Director of Glavstroy Development and Etalon-Invest): “Andrey was very immersed in the details of the projects, he himself participated in the development of the product, architecture, planning to the smallest detail. Perhaps that is why Pioneer obtained very high-quality projects, everyone deserves attention. ”

Irina Dobrokhotova, Chairman of the BEST Newbuilding Board of Directors: “From the point of view of the product, Pioneer is one of the first.”

Partner at META Maxim Leshchev: “He was a very good person and a great businessman. Responsible for the words. We sold them the Botanical Life and Varshavka projects in due time. ”

Update 15:30

The editorial office of the Company magazine received a comment from the IBC. As explained in the press service of the credit institution, Andrei Grudin was a shareholder of Pioneer Group of Companies with a 50% stake, which means "he could not make a sole decision to sell the company."

“On June 5, the general meeting of shareholders of Pioneer Group of Companies approved a loan refinancing deal with Sberbank. In June, IBC provided long-term financing for Pioneer Group of Companies. Loans were used to pay off the debts of the group. The attraction of loans was approved by both shareholders. In our opinion, the business model of Pioneer Group of Companies is one of the most conservative on the market; revenue and profit indicators allow servicing loan obligations. The total loan burden of the developer has not increased, ”the ICD said.

They also emphasized that there are “no and are not planned” joint projects that are not related to standard banking activities at MKB and Pioner Group of Companies.

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