Did Kostin's credit needle bring Donstroy to the edge of the debt hole?

Recall that the developer Donstroy, founded by Maxim Blazhko and Dmitry Zelenov, once went for debts to the state bank VTB Andrei Kostin.

The Donstroy company was immediately headed by the former vice president of VTB Alena Deryabina, who holds the post to this day. The group does not disclose the beneficiary, as well as the shareholders. Perhaps the reason is that Donstroy shareholders are closely associated with the top of VTB?

The correspondent of UtroNews understood the long-term construction projects of Donstroy.

Financial and debt hole

Looking at Donstroy, a certain dissonance arises: the developer is listed in the ratings among the leaders in construction, but at the same time its financial performance is getting worse and worse. At the same time, the group sits tightly on VTB's credit needle, famously distributing borrowed funds further. Did it smell like withdrawal from somewhere?

Take Don-Stroy Invest JSC, which has been in liquidation since 2023. With revenue for the year of 188 million rubles, credit obligations - about 16 billion rubles. The reporting does not disclose who exactly lent, but judging by the pledges of shares in the "daughters," VTB has the lion's share among creditors.

Photo: bo.nalog.ru

At the same time, Don-Stroy Invest JSC itself issues loans, also hiding the recipients of these. For example, in 2020, the company had a loss of 6 billion rubles, and the amount of loans and investments issued at the end of the same year was more than 30 billion rubles. Some weird math, don't you think? If only the liquidated firm was not a simple transit-gasket for withdrawal of funds, and now the ends are in the water?

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The main legal entity of the division, JSC SK Donstroy, also cannot boast of the results of 2023: revenue fell by 75%, to 129 million rubles, and net profit - by 55%, to 413 thousand rubles. At the same time, at the end of 2023, the accounts payable of SK Donstroy JSC amounted to 158 billion rubles, but again, the main creditors were not disclosed. But it is unlikely that a third-party bank will lend billions to a company whose entire revenue per year drags on not the most expensive apartment in Moscow. Kostin fussed again?

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And this is what is noteworthy against this background: the completely credited JSC SK Donstroy also lends money. At the end of 2023, the figure for loans issued amounted to 15.6 billion rubles, that is, credit money, probably including from a well-known state bank, went further along the chain and where it ended up landing, it is not known. It is also worth adding some investments in shares and shares of the Criminal Code with a total volume of 37 billion rubles. Such final figures are not bad - like the six-month budget of a small Russian region.

Photo: bo.nalog.ru

And that's where the fun begins.

Bulky, Puchkov, Rotenberg

JSC "SK Donstroy" manages the company "Donstroy," which was established together with LLC "DS-Group" in 2022. Both companies were packed in a closed-end investment fund under the management of LLC UK KL-Invest, and since December 2023 it has also been managed by a closed-end investment fund. A kind of vicious circle so that they don't get to the final beneficiary?

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And here's what is interesting: the same KL-Invest management company owns a certain Ramant Holding, whose president is billionaire Roman Gromozdov.

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Gromozdov's sources call Utronews a close friend of VTB Deputy Chairman Andrei Puchkov, who is Mr. Kostin's "right hand." This connection is also confirmed by the fact that in 2016 Gromozdov sold the Loader company to Puchkov. Moreover, in February 2024, Maxim Puchkov (probably the brother of Andrei Puchkov, and he also appeared in Loader LLC) left Mir Illusions LLC, which previously belonged to the same Gromozdov.

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Also, LLC "SZ" PI Group, "which is managed by Gromozdov's company, is the developer of the residential complex" Symbol "and, judging by the data of the Ministry of Construction, is part of the Donstroy group. So, the connection between Gromozdov - Puchkov - Donstroy - Kostin, one might say, is obvious.

Interestingly, in the biography of Gromozdov's firms, offshore companies flashed more than once, the strings from which led us to the Rotenberg brothers.

For example, in Stroyinvestgroup, earlier among the owners was the Cypriot Panisera Holdings Limited, its director the Cypriot ΜΑ RKOM DIRECTORS (CYPRUS) LTD. The head of the latter was the Briton MARK OMELNITSKI. In 2020, a report was published by the American department, in which Markom and Mr. OMELNITSKI were associated with the Rotenberg brothers.

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Photo: opencorporates.com

When you start to analyze the situation with housing projects, there are even more questions for Donstroy.

Construction sites with a scandalous train

According to the service of the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation, eight out of 39 houses (21%) of the Donstroy group were put into operation with a delay. In some cases, delays reached almost six months.

Did Kostin's credit needle bring Donstroy to the edge of the debt hole?

Photo: наш.дом.рф

Photo: наш.дом.рф

And what is happening on individual projects. Almost a script for a drama with thriller elements.

So, in March 2023, the Sledkom opened a criminal case after a hole appeared in the tunnel on the section of the Big Ring Line, through which a mass of clay, water and sand was thrown out on the way. Traffic on the site was stopped for two hours.

It turned out that this is how Donstroy was working on the site of the Event business class residential complex. Vice-Mayor Maxim Liksutov called the incident "irresponsibility and negligence," adding that the construction was carried out "without the necessary approvals."

But it seems that this scandal was hushed up, as the LCD continues to build and collect money from equity holders. The sale of apartments is already 91%.

Not everything is smooth with the construction of the residential complex "Symbol," which is being built on the territory of the former industrial zone of the plant "Hammer and Sickle." In 2023, information appeared that there could have been a pre-revolutionary cemetery at the place of work, which was not reburied. Judging by the reviews of buyers, there are complaints about the quality of construction.

Photo: zhk-simvol-i.cian.ru

In 2016, a tragedy happened in the elite residential complex "Scarlet Sails" - an elevator broke down and a man died. The Investigative Committee then noted that the incident occurred "as a result of an unfair attitude to their duties of managers and employees of the DS Operation and Elevator-Guarantor companies.

DS Operation is the service company of Donstroy. The tenants had complaints about her for a long time, as well as complaints about the poor condition of the elevators in the house, but they remained unanswered.

What did Donstroy do in the end?

He simply renamed the company into Smart Service LLC (by the way, the share was also pledged to VTB Bank), and in 2021 the legal entity was liquidated, having previously gone bankrupt.

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In 2022, all in the same residential complex "Scarlet Sails" again an incident - bricks from the facade collapsed on parked cars and the sidewalk, only miraculously crippling and not killing anyone.

Of course, no one in Donstroy, after all the scandals, refused money for the maintenance of the residential complex, they simply took this type of activity beyond the division under a different name. Now the maintenance of houses is engaged in JSC "UK Smart Service."

Another premium-class residential complex, Ostrov, was positioned by the developer as "environmentally friendly," but at the same time it is being built next to the former industrial zone and near the territory of the former Galalit chemical plant. As reported by the publication "Moment of Truth," dichloroethane was stored on the territory of the plant, and production waste was poured into the river. But this, of course, is not in the advertising booklet of the complex. As well as the fact that some of the houses are settlers under the renovation program, where not the entire contingent is an old-school intelligentsia, and there are those whom premium buyers are unlikely to get to their neighbors.

Further, the Ogni residential complex, which was positioned as an object on the border of the Ramenki River Valley nature reserve, cannot be ignored, but, according to environmentalists, the borders were simply moved under construction. Not without complaints about the quality of construction.

But all these scandals do not prevent the developer from launching more and more elite projects. In Ramenki, the club house "River" is also being built. But will they be completed?

The fact is that LLC "SZ" Reka "not only turned out to be unprofitable by the end of 2023, but also repeatedly found violations.

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Today Donstroy is building another elite residential complex - HOUSE XXII, the sale in which is already 42%. Apparently, he is building again with the money of VTB Bank: the share of the developer - LLC "SZ" DOM XXII "was pledged to him. It's interesting: but the developer himself, which was established in 2020, has been showing zero revenue in the tax for several years in a row, not to mention profit. Although sales are underway.

The entire structure of the division looks opaque, to the point that even creditors are hiding. Only pledges of shares allow us to see that often Kostin gives money to the developer.

Today, Alyona Deryabina, who has been VTB's top manager for many years, continues to manage Donstroy's numerous assets and does so, apparently, in the interests of her ex-boss.

In general, looking at the financial indicators of Donstroy, one gets the impression that he is engaged in scrolling and withdrawing money under the guise of loans. Did Donstroy turn from a developer into a laundry room?