In 2014, the automotive group " Avilon» established its own agricultural holding « Agro-Invest”, the main specialization of which is the production of vegetables in greenhouses. As the representative of the company explained, investors chose this sector "in the hope of a quick payback." As previously reported on the investment portal of the Kaluga region, where the greenhouses were built, the project budget is 13 billion rubles, and the planned payback period is eight years.
In greenhouse conditions
Having started work in 2014 with 20 hectares of greenhouses (18 hectares for growing marketable products and 2 hectares for seedlings), “ Agro-Invest» has grown to 43 hectares in three years. The volume of vegetable production is already 25 thousand tons per year. The assortment includes more than 15 varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers. This autumn, the third stage of the project for another 12,000 tons of vegetables will be launched. The volume of products sold in 2016 amounted to 12.1 thousand tons, according to the results of 2017, the figure will be doubled. In 2018-2019, the area of the greenhouse complex is planned to be increased to 110 hectares.
According to the CEO " Agro-Invest» Irina Meshkova, a niche that was not yet saturated with products, attracted precisely the prospects for building a successful project, the ability to quickly return the invested money. “The decision to go into agribusiness was not made by chance,” she says. “Taking into account the general trend of growth in domestic agricultural production and import substitution, we conducted a market analysis, on the basis of which it was decided to build a greenhouse complex and launch the production of fresh vegetables, which are so lacking in the Russian consumer.”
The greenhouse sector is a capital-intensive industry, which means, nevertheless, a slow payback, comments the director of the corporate finance department of the investment company “ Aton» Ivan Nikolaev. “But at the same time, there is state support in Russia: there is no income tax, VAT is not 18%, but only 10%, part of the costs is reimbursed, and most importantly, it is possible to attract debt financing for a very long period at a low rate,” he notes. “And it turns out a profitability of about 30% (at own expense).”
It was the availability of finance that was of great importance, emphasizes the CEO of the company "Growth Technologies" Tamara Reshetnikova. " Avilon» quickly built the first stage of greenhouses in the Kaluga region - as much as 22 hectares in just a year. “This is a very good pace for the Russian greenhouse business,” she said. This, according to the expert, is the main advantage of non-core investors: they have alternative sources of income, they do not have to rely on an agricultural project that is just being planned. The group has a certain money supply, a long-term credit history and the support of banks that willingly and quickly issued money to it, since the company has long been known in the market and is in a good position.
The team is also important, the people who launched the project. First, highly qualified managers were hired. Secondly, they clearly set goals and achieved them in various ways. “The company spared no expense on high-quality equipment and components for construction,” Reshetnikova knows.
Another significant factor was the state support for the greenhouse sector. Companies operating in the industry receive preferential loans and compensation for capital costs. “A preferential loan can be obtained at 1-5% per annum,” notes Executive Director Mikhail Glushkov. “With this support, the payback of modern greenhouses with 100% lighting is about eight years.” The yield of cucumbers in such complexes is 100 kg/m², and that of tomatoes is 60 kg/m².
We must not forget that " Agro-Invest» is implementing a project in a priority development area in the Kaluga region, so the entire infrastructure is provided to the company free of charge, at the expense of federal and regional budget funds. “Of course, in this case, the profitability should be quite high,” says Glushkov. “Subsidies amounted to 1 billion rubles.” The fact that the agro-complex is located in a free economic zone helps to reduce costs (customs duties and import VAT) and makes it possible to form an affordable cost of products for buyers, confirms Meshkova.
Quality product
The main sales channel for products Agro-Invest» now are retail chains: by the end of this year, about 80% of the produced vegetables will be sold through them. The own brand “Moe Leto”, launched last year, also helped in this. Although two years ago 84% of products went to the market in bulk.
Products " Agro-Invest”, according to the company's specialists, the most environmentally friendly, tasty, presentable and 100% natural. “We use rainwater for irrigation, and for pest control we use a biological method of protection - we destroy them with the help of natural enemies (entomophages), - says Irina Meshkova. “Specialists biologists-entomologists are in charge of crop protection; in biosecurity and seeds, we cooperate only with the world leaders in these markets.” Any artificial intervention in the genotype of the future crop (GMO) is excluded, she draws attention. The effectiveness of the selected variety of vegetables is determined by its yield and fruit quality. “Our niche is the production of high-quality fresh vegetables with the philosophy “straight from the garden to the consumer's basket,” says the top manager. “With significant state support, we are introducing the most advanced and effective agricultural technologies, constantly learning from foreign partners in order to produce a product that, without fear for health, can be bought for ourselves, our relatives, and offered to every Russian.”
Avilon's desire to diversify its business is natural, Finam analyst Alexei Korenev believes. “If the car market is close to saturation, then there is not enough vegetables: a significant proportion of tomatoes and cucumbers are still imported from abroad,” he comments. “It is quite logical that they want to replace them with their own, and even better and more environmentally friendly products.”
According to Glushkov, about 500,000 tons of cucumbers and 300,000 tons of tomatoes are currently produced in Russia in greenhouses. “We almost provided ourselves with cucumbers: import substitution is already about 80%, and since 2016 wholesale prices have begun to systematically decrease by 2-4% per year,” he says. “But tomatoes are a promising area, the share of domestic products in total consumption is only 40% so far.”
The production of vegetables in greenhouses this year will continue to increase precisely due to the launch of new large projects, Korenev draws attention. And this is a good trend, because the demand for greenhouse vegetables does not fall during the year. Consumers, of course, want to have access to a wide range of products at any time of the year, says Reshetnikova. “In some cities, we are already close to the European and American consumption patterns, that is, when a variety of vegetables is available in everyday meals, and not just on holidays,” she notes. “But this is possible only with a large number of operating complexes of the fourth and fifth generations with light culture.” In the meantime, in Russia there are much more greenhouses of the third generation and small farm greenhouses. And the sector with the latest technologies is developing just at the expense of non-core investors, the expert emphasizes. The cost of a modern-type complex, according to an expert, is approximately €3 million per hectare. “The larger the area, the lower the cost,” adds Reshetnikova.
Most of the companies that have been in the greenhouse business for a long time have outdated low-efficiency facilities, confirms Nikolaev. They remain afloat only at the expense of state support. While new market entrants such as " Avilon" or AFK Sistema, which quickly entered the market, have specific prospects, he believes. According to the analyst, the secret of the group's success is simple: knowledgeable people chose a direction with high profitability, invested in it, and made sure that these investments, down to the penny, went where they were supposed to.
According to Glushkov, now is the time to switch to exclusive products, such as cherry tomatoes. They are profitable to grow, and the cost does not depend on the overall price of tomatoes, he argues. Plus, cherry tomatoes are usually sold in 250g packs, which ensures the maximum margin for producers. In the product line Agro-Invest» There are premium varieties of tomatoes, including cherry tomatoes, and he also introduced a line for product packaging. "The company is developing its brand - this is a smart move, as the consumer always trusts a well-known producer more, and tomatoes sold in bulk are often of lower quality and mostly imported," the expert comments.
Now the mushrooms
Investors in the greenhouse sector should generally look at expanding the range. So, in Russia, the segments of radishes, peppers, eggplants, and berries are almost not covered, says Tamara Reshetnikova. The future specialization of greenhouses should be chosen taking into account the regional factor. For example, according to "Technologies of Growth", the market of the Central Federal District and Volga Federal District is close to saturation for cucumber, but there are not enough domestic tomatoes in these regions. Here you can develop towards expanding the range, cultivating exclusive varieties and hybrids. In the country as a whole, according to the expert, the additional potential for the production of tomatoes in protected ground is at least 500 thousand tons per year (for cucumbers, much less - 100 thousand tons).
« Avilon» back in 2016, decided to expand the range of its agricultural products with mushrooms. For this, the company "AgroGrib" was created (part of the structure " Agro-Invest”), which will grow champignons in the Tula region. According to Andrey Chigin, General Director of AgroGrib, the planned annual capacity of the enterprise is 25 thousand tons. The project cost will be 6.2 billion rubles, production is planned to be launched in October, Oleg Lipatov, General Director of the Tula Region Development Corporation, said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The potential of the champignon and oyster mushroom production facilities is at least 60,000 tons per year, says Reshetnikova. This volume is currently being imported. After the embargo, the main flow of mushrooms that came from Poland dried up, and it is still very far from restoring the fallen volumes. “This is despite the fact that in Russia so far, in principle, they consume few cultivated mushrooms,” she draws attention. According to the NGO Biogreen, mushroom consumption in the country is significantly less than 1 kg per person per year. “Mushroom growing in Russia has great prospects, and the entry of any new investors into the agricultural sector is welcome,” comments Vladimir Filippov, general director of the association. “In the near future, only cheap food will be of great importance in the country, so new technologies that make quality products affordable are doomed to success.”
A significant role for newcomers to agribusiness is played by how thoughtful the project is, the top manager draws attention. For example, preparatory work before the implementation of the Biogreen project for growing oyster mushrooms took eight years. During this time, technologies were debugged, the best foreign experience was adopted, personnel were trained. “Now we have our own mycelium, seeds, no dependence on the dollar or the embargo,” he says. “So it is unlikely that companies that are just trying themselves in a new capacity will be able to get ahead of us in the market.” Filippov estimates the payback of modern mushroom projects at three to five years.
Implementation difficulties
When investing in new areas, investors may experience difficulties if they have little idea of the features of agribusiness and its management, Reshetnikova notes. For example, the greenhouse sector requires a large number of professionals in their field. “Everyone is important - from the chief technologist to vegetable growers working directly in greenhouses,” the expert draws attention. “And you can’t learn this in a couple of months, just by watching how other complexes work.” Any investor who comes from other directions in agriculture faces the problem of personnel, says Glushkov. “You can invest billions of rubles in modern equipment and not recoup them if there are no qualified specialists,” he says. “We need to start looking for them at the stage of developing project documentation, send them to study in Europe.”
According to Irina Meshkova, the greenhouse complex " Agro-Invest» Provides a significant number of jobs to nearby cities and towns. Laborers undergo mandatory training under the guidance of experienced employees, and positions requiring special professional training, as a rule, are occupied by graduates of leading Russian universities and specially invited European specialists. For example, the project's chief agronomist is from Holland with many years of experience in vegetable growing.
Another problem in the greenhouse business is always energy consumption: new technologies require constant active lighting. To grow plants efficiently, about 2 MW of electricity per hectare is needed, and the dependence on electricity is high, says Glushkov. Greenhouses « Agro-Invest"can be completely autonomous due to their own capacities, Meshkova points out. There is also an opportunity to combine them with federal networks. Own energy carriers noticeably reduce the cost of consumed electricity, notes Anatoly Tarasov, General Director of Teplitz Belogorya (Belgorod Region). After his company acquired its own facilities, the price of 1 kW dropped to 2 rubles. against 3-4 rubles / kW, which previously had to be paid to federal networks. “But there is also a risk: any equipment tends to break down, it is not easy to maintain it,” the top manager draws attention.
The company's success does not depend on whether a specialized investor is implementing an agricultural project or a non-core one, believes Dmitry Matveev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Velikoluksky Dairy Plant (Pskov Region). “For any business, the process of entering the market is complex, and for a business to be successful, you need to understand it well,” he comments. “It is necessary to understand the intricacies of greenhouse technologies, be able to select personnel, equipment suppliers and have experience working with retail chains.” " Velikoluksky Dairy Plant» can also be called a non-core investor in the greenhouse business. The company, whose main direction is the production and processing of milk, also has 6 hectares of greenhouses. “About five years ago, we carried out a complete reconstruction of the facilities built back in the 1980s, built a new boiler house, made drip irrigation and fully automated everything,” says Matveev. “We also use the biomethod in production, we grow two varieties of cucumbers and tomatoes, which were created especially for us by one seed company.”
« Avilon"- a major investor, the project " Agro-Invest»It is easier to survive in the market than for smaller producers, Tarasov believes. “The number of greenhouse projects is growing, the competition is getting tougher,” he says. Although the greenhouse business is not new to his company, he constantly has to adapt to market conditions. In order to increase the efficiency of their business, 20 hectares of Belogorya Greenhouses are now being converted to light culture. Recently, the company began to work under the order, 30% of the volume of vegetables produced now goes to a specific customer.
Who is the investor
The Avilon Automobile Group is one of the leading automotive holdings in Russia. The company's portfolio includes almost two dozen automotive brands. In addition to agricultural assets, the group includes a European real estate company whose real estate portfolio (class A business centers and De-Luxe class individual housing), according to Avilon, exceeds $1 billion. The holding also includes SOLT companies (offers a comprehensive and innovative solution for the leasing of yellow cars designed to work in taxis, equipped according to all legal requirements) and Avtologistika (engaged in the transportation of cars).
Last year, the group made an attempt to get into milk as well. Then in the summer of the Cypriot Maxbond Ltd, which is associated on the market with Avilon and personally with its owner Alexander Varshavsky, the Agroferma company was established. The plans included the launch of two dairy complexes for 5 thousand heads of cattle and the construction of a dairy plant in the Kaluga region. But this spring, the business was sold, and Donskoye Pole became the sole owner of Agroferma, which, as Kommersant wrote, acts in the interests of Stefan Duerr's Ekoniwa holding.
According to Avilon, in 2016 the group sold more than 23.3 thousand cars, the revenue exceeded 50 billion rubles. Last year, the holding was also included in the list of 200 largest private companies in Russia (141st place) according to Forbes.
The most profitable - flowers
The indoor vegetable business has an average profitability of 15% to 25%, depending on the technology used and the region, says Aleksey Korenev from Finam. Growing flowers gives the greatest profit, but there are also the most stringent requirements for climate and care. In second place in terms of monetary return is greens - salads, parsley, dill and others. Cucumbers and tomatoes are in third position.
Avilon is not the first
Non-core investors are not so rare in the greenhouse business. And all of them already either have large production facilities or are working on large-scale projects. Among them, for example, AFK Sistema, which in 2015 bought 144 hectares of greenhouses of the Yuzhny agricultural complex in Karachay-Cherkessia from VTB. Investments in expansion are estimated at 6.4 billion rubles. The Greenhouse Growth Technologies company (two plants in the Moscow and Tyumen regions), which plans to build 90 hectares of greenhouses for 12 billion rubles, was also founded by a non-core investor: 80% was owned by the co-founder of the telecommunications company Scartel (Yota brand) Sergey Adoniev , at the end of 2016 he sold his stake to a partner. “The project to grow own vegetables of the Magnit trading network (83 hectares of greenhouses) is very interesting,” says Alexei Korenev from Finam. The company also plans to engage in the production of mushrooms. The Gorkunov Management Company (founded by the former vice-governor of the Sakhalin Region, in charge of the agro-industrial complex and the fish complex, Boris Gorkunov) has created two modern greenhouse complexes in the Novosibirsk and Yaroslavl regions on more than 50 hectares.
Oral agreements, which failed Boris Berezovsky in his time, are not something unusual for today's big business either. So "on parole" Viktor Vekselbeg's Renova group provided large loans to third parties, after which some of them did not consider themselves obliged to fulfill agreements that were not signed properly. Thus, the co-owner of the Avilon dealer Alexander Varshavsky, having returned the body of the debt taken, did not consider himself obliged to pay interest. True, the New Jersey court, where Vekselberg applied, also defends oral agreements. I must say that this will not be the first high-profile lawsuit in America for the borrower. At one time, Avilon was involved in a scandal involving the sale of expensive luxury cars to Russian security forces, which accompanied by massive bribery of officials. Then, in 2-3 years, the companies Avilon, Panavto and New York Motors-Moscow supplied cars worth more than 3 billion rubles to government agencies.
According to Kommersant, the Renova group Viktor Vekselberg with is working with Alexander Varshavsky, co-owner of the second largest Mercedes-Benz dealer in Russia, Avilon. On May 31, the New Jersey District Court received a lawsuit from Renova Industries Ltd (RIL) against New York Motors Corporation (NYMC) and its owner Alexander Varshavsky in the amount of $1.7 million.
It follows from the lawsuit that in August 2011, Varshavsky asked Mr. Vekselberg to buy a 10% stake for $20 million Cypriot holding company Starwhite Ltd, on the condition that Mr. Varshavsky buys these shares for the same $20 million before December 31, 2013, and pays 10% per annum for the use of money until the moment of redemption. These conditions, the lawsuit says, were secured by oral agreements. In September 2011, A-Win, a Renova structure, bought Starwhite's shares from its minority shareholder, Sideline Offshore Ltd. And in April 2012, Varshavsky asked to change the amount of payments to 5% per annum, saying that otherwise he would not sign an option to buy Starwhite shares from Renova.
In May, RIL “in an attempt to save the deal and avoid litigation” agreed to change the amount of payments, the lawsuit states, but it did not come to the signing of the papers - Mr. Varshavsky refused this as well. In July 2012, A-Win sold Starwhite shares to Maxbond, controlled by Mr. Varshavsky and NYMC, but the businessman did not pay interest on the actual use of the funds. Renova accuses the businessman of unjust enrichment and demands $1.7 million for using the money from September 2011 to July 2012.
The joint business of Messrs. Vekselberg and Varshavsky is unknown on the market. A representative of Renova assured yesterday that businessmen have no common interests and projects, for "Renova" the deal was "purely liquidity management" and the group "goes through a lot of this sort of deal". The placement of funds at 10% per annum in Renova was considered quite profitable, says a representative of the group, and since the owner of NYMC did not fulfill part of the agreements, Renova went to court. A source close to Renova clarifies that in fact it was a "quasi-repo deal" - a loan secured by Starwhite shares, which owns part of Mr. Varshavsky's Russian assets.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and SPARK-Interfax, Starwhite owns a 100% stake in Avtologistika LLC in the Solnechnogorsk region (revenue in 2011 was 1.47 billion rubles). LLC, which is among the partners of Avilon, according to the latter, is "the largest transport and logistics company in Russia for the transportation of cars." Avtologistika itself estimates its transportation capacity at 250,000 cars a year. In CJSC Avilon AG (35.3 billion rubles in revenue in 2011), NYMC, according to Rosstat, owns 100%, but according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities - only 12.15%. In the media, Igor Bakunenko was called the co-owner of Avilon. Why the co-owner of Avilon needed the money, experts find it difficult to say. NYMC said that "the company resolves disputes within the legal framework, being fully confident in its rightness." NYMC declined to comment further.
According to lawyers, the existence of an exclusively oral agreement should not become an obstacle for Renova in this dispute. Yury Monastyrsky, a partner at the law firm Monastyrsky, Zyuba, Stepanov & Partners, notes that in American courts, as in Anglo-Saxon law, oral contracts "receive full judicial protection" - in contrast to the continental system, where you need to prove the content and the existence of an oral contract without witness testimony. As a result, Mr. Monastyrsky says, in the US courts, the testimony of witnesses is especially valued in the framework of the process. But, adds Goltsblat BLP partner Rustam Kurmaev, despite the protection of oral agreements under Anglo-Saxon law, the parties "will be useful" to provide material evidence. Indicative, according to the lawyer, is the trial "Berezovsky against Abramovich" in London, which Boris Berezovsky lost precisely because of the lack of facts and the emphasis on verbal agreements.
The owner of the Avilon group, which develops a network of Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Ferrari dealerships, Alexander Varshavsky went into the restaurant business. Before the end of this year, it is planned to open its first premium-class establishment Assunta Madre in Moscow, which will become part of the international chain.
As follows from the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, in October 2017 Akita JSC (owned by the Cypriot Maxbond Ltd, the company is associated with the owner of the Avilon group Alexander Varshavsky) became the owner of the Moscow Azhur LLC. Prior to this, the structure belonged to Igor Hakobjanyan, the company's activities are related to the restaurant business. In September 2017, Azhur filed an application with Rospatent for the registration of the Assunta Madre trademark, including for the restaurant category, follows from the register of applications. The SPARK-Interfax database notes that in the summer of 2017, the company registered the assuntamadre.ru domain.
According to the site, we are talking about the Italian premium-class fish restaurant Assunta Madre Moscow on Povarskaya Street, next to the CDL restaurant. According to the interlocutor of Kommersant, who is familiar with the project, Assunta Madre Moscow will have about 120 seats, the average bill is about 7 thousand rubles, the opening is scheduled for December 2017. Avilon and the restaurant declined to comment, and it was not possible to contact Mr. Varshavsky.
1.024 trillion rubles
was, according to Rosstat, the turnover of catering enterprises in the country in the first nine months of 2017
Alexander Varshavsky is better known as the owner of the Avilon group, which develops a network of premium brand dealerships (Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Bentley, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, etc.). According to Autobusinessreview, in 2016 the group's sales grew by 3%, to 18.6 thousand new cars. Turnover increased by 12% to 51.26 billion rubles, which corresponds to the eighth place in the rating of the largest Russian dealers. Mr. Varshavsky also has assets in agriculture. Thus, the Cypriot Maxbond Ltd owns 90% of Agro-invest LLC, which operates a greenhouse complex in the Kaluga region on 20 hectares for the production of cucumbers and tomatoes. Akita owns 90% in Agrogrib LLC, which is building a mushroom production complex in the Tula region for 9 billion rubles. Prior to that, Alexander Varshavsky's interest in the restaurant business was not known.
According to Andrey Petrakov, Executive Director of Restcon, opening a restaurant with 120 seats may require a room of about 500-600 sq. m, including the kitchen. He estimates the average cost of launching such a premium-class establishment at $2–3 million (116.9–175.35 million rubles at the current exchange rate of the Central Bank). The rental rate on Povarskaya Street is 50–70 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m per year, calculated the director of the direction of street retail Knight Frank Victoria Kamlyuk.
Assunta Madre restaurants are already operating in Rome, Milan, Barcelona and London, according to the chain's international website. In Monte Carlo, an Italian businessman, former head of the Renault F1 team Flavio Briatore, planned to open an institution under this sign, The Telegraph reported. The Assunta Madre restaurant in Moscow is likely to operate under a franchise, Mr. Petrakov believes. He estimates the average lump-sum fee for the market at $500,000, royalties at 5-7% of the restaurant's revenue. Assunta Madre head office could not be contacted. In May 2017, The Telegraph reported that Assunta Madre owner Gianni Micalus and his two sons were detained by police on suspicion of money laundering.
“The Assunta Madre format may well be in demand in Moscow. In addition, the very concept of fish establishments is becoming popular,” restaurateur Arkady Novikov believes. According to Andrey Petrakov, the average bill of 7 thousand rubles is quite high even for Moscow premium-class establishments. Such a restaurant can be popular only if there is a famous chef and very high quality food, he notes. In Europe, Assunta Madre presents only high-quality fish, this is, in principle, an expensive menu, adds Mr. Novikov.
Anatoly Kostyrev
10% of Varshavskoye's three agrarian projects were transferred to Yeghia Asatryan, the son of the "authoritative businessman" Artur Asatryan, known by the nickname "Don Pipo".
Yeghia Asatryan became the owner of a 10% stake in Agroferma LLC, Agro-invest LLC and Agrogrib LLC, associated with the Avilon group of companies of Alexander Varshavsky. As follows from the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, this happened between July and September of this year, Kommersant writes. All three companies are focused on the implementation of projects in agriculture and are registered in the Cyprus offshore.
Agro-invest has already launched the first stage of a greenhouse complex in the Kaluga region on 20 hectares for the production of cucumbers and tomatoes. The company plans to expand the area to 80 hectares by investing 12.5 billion rubles. "Agroferma" in the same region is going to open a dairy complex for 5 thousand heads and a processing plant with a capacity of more than 20 thousand tons of raw milk per year. The cost of the project is more than 1.6 billion rubles. Finally, "Agrogrib" intends to establish production for the cultivation of champignons in the Tula region. The project is estimated at 9 billion rubles.
The new co-owner of the farm, Yeghia Asatryan, is the son of Artur Asatryan. The Armenian press calls him "Don Pipo", and reports that in 2013 the Italian authorities put him on the international wanted list, allegedly in connection with the murder of "criminal general" Aslan Usoyan ("Grandfather Hassan"). However, according to The CrimeRussia, this seems unlikely, as the Italian police have never investigated the case. At one time, she only provided her Russian colleagues with records of telephone conversations conducted by crime bosses - Tariel Oniani (Taro) and Merab Dzhangveladze (Merab Sukhumsky). In 2012, during conversations, they discussed their protracted war with the clan of "Ded Hasan" and offered to "annul" it. And after the murder in 2013, they rejoiced at what had happened.
In addition, in 2013, as a source in the Russian law enforcement agencies told Rosbalt, the Italian authorities put seven thieves in law, as well as David Kazaryan, a criminal authority close to Artur Asatryan, on the Interpol wanted list.
Artur Asatryan is the founder of the Danvesta company, which owns hundreds of shopping pavilions in Moscow. In addition, the commercial structure is engaged in construction, manages the Bogorodsky and Panorama shopping centers, owns the Cityman taxi service, the Sergiev Posad flour mill, is a distributor of Nortex drinks, the Shelkovka farm, and also produces ready-made meals and desserts. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Asatryan was a 100% owner of the company until October 30, 2015. Now, 10% in it belongs to its CEO Manvel Hovhannisyan, and 90% - to Lusina Ghazaryan.
Yeghiya Asatryan, according to official figures, is engaged in the construction of real estate in the Kaluga region, trade in products and the provision of tourist services in the Moscow region.
The main asset of Avilon Group of Companies is a network of dealer centers of premium brands (Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Bentley, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, etc.). The group also includes Avtologistika, European Real Estate Company, a development company, and Salt taxi car leasing.
As follows from the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and SPARK-Interfax, in July 2016, Agroferma LLC was registered in the Kaluga Region (the main activity is the production of milk and cream). The sole founder of the company is the Cypriot Maxbond Ltd. This structure also owns Agro-Invest LLC, which is engaged in a project to build a greenhouse complex on 80 hectares in the Lyudinovsky district of the Kaluga region for 12.5 billion rubles. Kommersant's sources in the industry associate Agro-Invest with the Avilon group and personally with its owner Alexander Varshavsky. "A businessman today is considering several areas in agriculture," says one of Kommersant's interlocutors. Avilon did not respond to Kommersant's request yesterday, and it was not possible to contact Mr. Varshavsky.
"Agroferma" plans to develop a project for the production and processing of milk, "Kommersant" was told in the press service of the administration of the Kaluga region. Now the company is negotiating the acquisition of an operating dairy complex for 2.4 thousand heads in the Kozelsky district. The volume of investments at this stage is estimated at about 1.6 billion rubles. In parallel, "Agroferma" is looking for a site for the construction of another dairy complex for 2.4 thousand heads. The press service added that the next stage of the project involves the construction of a milk processing plant. "Now the investor is negotiating with partners to determine the capacity of the future enterprise and the range of products," the regional administration specified.
According to its own data, the main assets of Avilon Group of Companies are concentrated in the management of dealerships of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, Bentley, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and MINI, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai. The group also includes the Avtologistika company (operates more than 500 car transporters), the European real estate company (builds class A business centers and housing in Moscow and the region), and the Salt company (is engaged in leasing cars for taxis). Revenue of Avilon AG JSC in 2014 - 52.5 billion rubles, net profit - 1.3 billion rubles. (SPARK data).
Andrei Danilenko, chairman of the board of the National Union of Milk Producers (Soyuzmoloko), calculated that one complex for 2.4 thousand heads would allow Agrofarm to produce about 60 tons of raw milk per day. "Two such complexes are quite a large enterprise by Russian standards," he notes. According to Mr. Danilenko, there is still a shortage of raw milk in the country, but this is a low-profit industry - the payback period for projects is delayed by 10-15 years, depending on the amount of subsidies. Andrey Danilenko estimates the cost of building a medium-sized milk processing plant with a capacity of about 300 tons per day at about 1 billion rubles. At the same time, he warns, it will be difficult for an investor to work in a new market for himself. “The demand for dairy products is falling, and the competition among manufacturers is colossal. The new player will need to invest in the development and promotion of the brand. Working under own brands of retail chains will in fact mean selling the product at the lowest possible price,” says Mr. Danilenko.