The entity of Gazprombank is the co-owner of the Aviapark complex (400 000 sq m.), said three consultants who worked with the project participants. Initially, the bank owned almost half of the complex, said one of them. It now controls nearly a third of the complex, claim the other two.

The owner of Aviapark is JSC "TVK Aviapark", as said in the latter's lawsuit against the Department of Property of Moscow. At least until 2014, TVK Aviapark was 100% owned by Darkforest Holding Company, as follows from the last financial report. According to the Cypriot registry, since November 2012, 57.15% of the shares of Darkforest Holding Company belong to Aviapark Mall Holdings from the British Virgin Islands, and the rest to GPBI (Cyprus) Ltd. In September 2014, the share of the latter decreased to 30%, and Aviapark Mall's sharerose to 70%.

GPBI (Cyprus) Ltd at the end of December last year was part of the list of affiliated persons of JSC Gazprombank, and Expert RA rating agency reported earlier that the company specialized in project management of Gazprombank in the field of real estate.

Who owns Aviapark Mall Holdings is impossible to find out. Real estate advisers said that the investors of the complex were Arkady Rotenberg's son Igor and co-founder of the developer of Aviapark, Amma Development ownet by Mikhail Zayats.

The entity of Gazprombank could become a co-owner of Aviapark under the loan agreement between the project participants, believe two real estate consultant. The Gazprombank's website says that it gave a loan of $560 million to build a shopping mall at Khodynskoye field. Darkforest Holding Company's report for 2014 mentions two loans: for $560 million and 8 billion rubles. There it is said that 100% of the mall were encumbered in Gazprombank.

Money for construction

Gazprombank entities possess many real estate objects. Thus, Gazprombank-Invest owns the territory of Stroyexpo exhibition center between Frunze Embankment and Komsomolsky Avenue, where it is planned to build a residential complex of 118 000 sq. m. Gazprombank-Invest is also engaged in the construction of cottage settlements ( "Lion", "Esquire Park", "Pokrovsky-Rubtsovo") on the Rublevo-Uspenskoye and Novorizhskoe highways, as well as residential complexes in Moscow ( "Lime" at the Staroalekseevskaya street) , St. Petersburg ( "Krestovsky De Luxe" and "Veter Peremen") and in other regions, says the company's website.

The agreement between the owners of the mall provides for the option to buy out the share of Gazprombank's entity by the second shareholder, says a person close to one of the owners of Aviapark. The option conditions are not known to him.

Owners of Aviapark "began the search for a buyer for half of the mall, as last year said three consultants working with the object and confirmed a person close to one of the owners. According to them, the proceeds will be used to reduce the debt load. They clarified that the mall had no difficulties with servicing loans, but its owners wanted to repay part of the debt due to the uncertainty in the real estate market. The representative of Igor Rotenberg said then that there was no decision to sell the stake Aviapark. 

On Thursday, representatives of Rothenberg, Gazprombank and the JLL company, which, according to the interviewees of Vedomosty, is engaged in the sale of  Aviapark shares, declined to comment.

Now the market value of Aviapark may be about 60 billion rubles (app. $1 billion), says the director of Knight Frank property department, Alexander Obukhov. Managing partner of Colliers International, Stanislav Bibik, evaluates the mall at $1-1.2 billion. Thus, the center owners can gain $500-600 million from its sale.

Obukhov says that Aviapark is appealing to investors; its free area now is no more than 5%. However, the number of investors who are willing to buy a stake in the project, instead of the entire asset, is very limited: many fear that they will not be able to negotiate with a partner for further development of the mall, adds Bibik.