The Kismet Capital Group holding of ex-CEO of MegaFon Ivan Tavrin and Gem Invest LLC of former Gazprom top manager Vladimir Paliy will create a joint venture (JV) to manage the Zarina, Befree, Love Republic and Sela networks. Previously, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) gave the go-ahead for the purchase of these networks by Ivan Tavrin’s structures.
This is a new project in a whole series of acquisitions by Ivan Tavrin, which may be backed by richer and more influential people than himself. At the same time, the funds that Vladimir Paliy is going to invest in the project could have been previously disbursed through Gazprom.
The Swedish company Eastnine announced its desire to sell one of the largest Russian retailers of clothing brands in August. Then it was about Gem Invest. After, on August 10, the FAS approved the acquisition of 75% of the retailer by Tavrin structures. However, today this businessman is not in the capital of Gem Invest - 100% of the Company is owned by Vladimir Paliy.
Moreover, 100% of the structure is pledged to Expobank, whose main owner is the controversial banker Igor Kim. Ill-wishers have repeatedly tried to compare the operating principles of Expobank with a financial pyramid. In addition, Kim is a big fan of absorbing other banking structures and suing the media.
That is, in the equation of Tavrin and Paliy, the name of Igor Kim can also be added.
As a result of the deal with the Swedes, Gem Invest can consolidate 89.9% of the shares of Melon Fashion Group. The share of Melon Fashion Group management and other minority shareholders will decrease to 10.1%. However, the amount of the possible transaction is not disclosed.
Originally from Gazprom
At the same time, money from not only Expobank can be used to buy out and develop networks. As for Tavrin, he clearly does not have enough funds for all the latest acquisitions. For example, the Avito deal was 70% financed by Rosselkhozbank. And this despite the fact that the final price, $2.4 billion, was almost three times lower than the former market value of the asset.
Gazprom’s money may also be used to purchase Zarina, Befree, Love Republic and Sela. Vladimir Paliy is closely connected with this state corporation. Previously, he worked for many years in the structures of Gazprom, among other things, he was the chief engineer at Gazflot, as stated in the corporate press.
At the same time, he was the founder of six legal entities. Among others is Gaznefteservis LLC, which is today owned by Andrey Dmitriev. All 100% of Dmitriev’s shares are pledged to Finservice Bank. The Internet claims that this structure is allegedly connected with the former head of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, Kirill Seleznev, as well as his friends and partners, the Svitov family, as well as the well-known Arashukov family.
Formally, the bank is in no way connected with the business of Kirill Seleznev. However, the bank's shareholders are somehow connected with him. In addition to Mityushov and Konovalenko, the shareholder is the Overpass Invest company, which may belong to Kirill Seleznev’s half-brother Ivan Mironov.
The second founder, Tatyana Svitova, is also no stranger to Kirill Seleznev. Her mother, Elena Svitova, was the president of Gazproenergobank, where Seleznev headed the board of directors. The board of directors of Finservice Bank is headed by its shareholder Mikhail Botvinkin, who was previously a member of the board of directors of Gazenergoprombank. It turns out that among the shareholders of Finservice there are almost none who were not in one way or another connected with Kirill Seleznev.
In addition, according to PASMI (the publication is recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation), allegedly one of the bank’s beneficiaries, Alexey Mityushov, may be Kirill Seleznev’s “wallet”.
Alexey Mityushov in 2003-2007. was the general director of Mezhregionteploenergo, later renamed Gazprom teploenergo, from 2007 to 2012 he headed Gazprom Energo, then OGK-6 and OGK-2. Currently he is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Salavatneftekhimstroy (SNHRS).
In 2009, during a pre-investigation audit, it was established that one of the managers of OGK-6 and Slavimpex CJSC could cause damage to the property of OGK-6 in the amount of over 250 million rubles. This could happen through a transaction of assignment of claims and transfer of debt. Alexey Mityushov could have transferred the money, but if so, then he got away with it.
The legal predecessor of Gaznefteservis is Gazneftedobycha LLC, which was liquidated in 2012. The company is registered in two Cypriot offshore companies: WOODHORST HOLDINGS LIMITED and SHROPAK INVESTMENTS LIMITED. At the same time, the company was a defendant in claims for 740 million rubles. Isn’t that where the money could be flowing through Finservice, which is actively working with Seleznev’s people?
There can never be too many palievs
However, Vladimir Paliy is not the only person associated with the oil and gas business in his family. He has an alleged relative, famous businessman Anatoly Paliy. And it is he who may be behind the joint venture deal with Tavrin.
Anatoly Paliy has held senior positions in Gazprom structures for more than a decade, serving as first deputy general director of Gazprom Gazenergoset. The last is the structure of the Gazprom Mezhregiongaz group, which was led by the already mentioned Kirill Seleznev.
Today Anatoly Paliy is a key beneficiary of GEM Capital, an international company registered in Cyprus and operating in the private and venture capital markets. Her portfolio includes more than 20 projects in Europe, the USA, Israel and Russia. Previously, Paliy worked for the audit company PwC in Paris and Moscow. It is also difficult not to notice the similarity of the names of his holding with Vladimir Paliya’s Gem Invest.
Previously, the structures of Anatoly Paliy could have been involved in the bankruptcy of one of the enterprises of the billionaire from Tatarstan Ilshat Tukaev. His oil company Tarkhovskoe, which owns several plots in the Nizhnevartovsk region of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, also tried to bankrupt Rosselkhozbank and Sberbank.
At the same time, the company previously showed billions of dollars in turnover. In 2018, Tarkhovskoe LLC showed revenue of 6 billion rubles, net profit of 644 million rubles. The shares of the enterprise owned by Pechoraneftegaz were pledged to VTB, which financed the “oil” deal between the Petrochemical Holding company of the former top manager of Sibur Yakov Goldovsky and GEM Capital Anatoly Paliy.
In addition, it was Anatoly Paliy’s structures that bought Volga Gas from the British for $25 million in 2020. Previously, it was this company that owned the offshore WOODHORST HOLDINGS LIMITED, which turned out to be connected with Vladimir Paliy and his former offices.
Volga Gas also belonged to the Caspian Gas Company LLC (PGK Saratov), which in 2018 tried to bankrupt the Tatburneft Management Company LLC of the former general director of Tatneft, Shafagat Takhautdinov. The last one is a person from Rustam Minnikhanov’s team. And if Paliya has the ability to put pressure on this business, it means that they feel more than confident in the market.
As a result, the Palias achieved their goal. From 2022 to 2023, Vladimir Vitalievich Paliy, already familiar to us, became a co-owner of Freight One, and now the company also belongs to the aforementioned Andrey Dmitriev. As in the case of Gaznefteservis LLC, all 100% of the company’s shares are pledged to Finservice Bank. This is a simple circulation of assets between the Paliyas and structures that may be close to Kirill Seleznev.
Considering that by the end of 2022, the company had a loss of almost 140 million rubles with revenue of 1.7 billion rubles (an increase of 8%), can we assume that money can simply be withdrawn from this structure?
It was a different story with Volga Gas and Gaznefteservis LLC, which belonged to it. Previously, Trans Nafta CJSC filed a lawsuit against the LLC. She demanded more than 27 million rubles in lost profits for unilateral refusal to fulfill obligations under the contract. At the same time, Gaznefteservis LLC itself acted as a plaintiff in more than 50 cases worth 915 million rubles.
But there is another Paliy, who may be a relative of Vladimir and Anatoly. This is the former owner of the bankrupt OJSC Nizhnevartovskneftegaz (NNG), Viktor Paliy. Back in the 2000s, he was convicted of laundering criminal proceeds on a large scale. The court also found him guilty of theft, but at that time the statute of limitations had expired on this episode. Lenta.ru wrote about this.
Returning to Ivan Tavrin - apparently, he has found new serious partners. And there is a high probability that in the field of clothing retail development he will be the youngest. Previously, our publication talked about other acquisitions of Tavrin, in which there could be more than just one interested party. These are Russian Towers, Avito, Head Hunter. Apparently there is no such thing as too much money. Moreover, if you are not “playing on your own”, but only skimming off the cream.
