Svyaznoy Network demanded 1.55 billion rubles from its founder

The bankruptcy trustee of Svyaznoy Network LLC (the parent structure of the Svyaznoy digital equipment retailer with 2.6 thousand stores), Philip Angelevsky, filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court with a claim against the owner of a share of the 5.6% in the company. – JSC Svyaznoy Group of Companies: return of 1.55 billion rubles. The court left the case without progress, since the bankrupt could not present a receipt for the payment of 200 thousand rubles of duties. The plaintiff requested a deferral of payment of the state fee, but did not have the necessary evidence on the reasons for the lack of funds in the accounts, the court considered.

The statement of claim remained without progress until June 3.

In March, Angelevski reported that he had asked the court to invalidate the security agreement between Balance Asset Management LLC and Set Svyaznoy for a similar amount, concluded on July 27, 2020, and that he was going to recover it from this LLC. It was not specified for what purposes the guarantee was issued. The claim could not be found in court records. RB.RU sent a request to Balance Asset Management and did not receive a response at the time of publication of the material.

• Balance Asset Management LLC, founded by Vitaly Balanovich, was registered in 2004 in Moscow and its main activity is securities management. The company invests in institutional-quality real estate properties that generate stable income, according to its website.

In September 2022, more than 77% of the shares of the CSKA football club were transferred from VEB.RF to Balance Asset Management. Balanovich was going to develop a business “on the basis of the real estate complex of the CSKA football club.”

On December 12, 2023, the Arbitration Court declared Network Svyaznoy bankrupt and opened bankruptcy proceedings.

• On March 21, 2024, the court recognized the claim of the creditor Belgravian Investments Ltd., registered in the Virgin Islands, as partially justified and included 25 billion rubles in the third line of claims.
• Other companies also submitted applications to be included in the list of creditors. In March 2024, Alfa-Bank filed two claims against the company in the total amount of 8.2 billion rubles, and against TFN LLC (distributor of mobile devices, electric vehicles and accessories), in the amount of 308.6 million rubles. In January 2023, the court decided to recover from Svyaznoy in favor of the distributor Merlion the debt arising from supply contracts worth 5 billion rubles. In December 2022, VimpelCom’s (Beeline brand) claim to recover 839 million rubles in advance payment from Svyaznoy was fulfilled. On November 21, 2023, the Moscow Arbitration Court also recognized the claim of the telecom operator against Set Svyaznoy LLC as justified and included 791.2 million rubles in the register of creditors of the debtor.

Svyaznoy is a digital equipment retailer. The company’s retail network includes more than 2.6 thousand stores in 1.1 thousand cities of Russia. At the end of 2023, the network’s revenue amounted to 5.5 billion rubles, a drop of 90%, and the net loss was recorded at 3 billion rubles.