Why Gref is not a “bee” yet

Why Gref is not a “bee” yet

Will German Gref, the head of Sberbank, help Vladimir Yevtushenkov take over VimpelCom? The former head of the Customer Care division of Sberbank, Elena Serova, has been appointed as the new vice president for operations at Vimpelcom (Beeline brand). Could this mean that oligarch Vladimir Yevtushenkov may be trying to get control over VimpelCom?

Fight for Beeline

Recall that now there is a process of transferring “Beeline” into the hands of new owners. The company has a lot of debt obligations that it is unable to fulfill. The largest creditor of the company is Sberbank, and therefore it is highly likely that the structure will go to him.

But there are also competitors – the main one in the face of Gazprombank, to which Beeline also owes a considerable amount. In addition, the option of transferring the company to its top management is being considered. At the same time, Leader Management Company is trying to ban the sale of Vimpelcom by Veon holding to its top managers without guarantees of payments to the company on Eurobonds.

Ms. Serova, according to her Linkedin profile, previously worked in one of the Veon structures. So, there is reason to believe that he is well aware of the whole “inside story” of the holding.

Mr. Gref, who “warmed” her for a while, did not miscalculate, now it was on his initiative that she could be appointed to a new post at VimpelCom in order to act in his interests from within.

By the way, Sberbank has a small MVNO operator, Sbermobile, operating on the Tele2 network. However, it may not cover all the needs of the bank, because it operates in only 68 regions of Russia.

By old friendship

But what does Vladimir Yevtushenkov have to do with it? Back in 2007, there were rumors that Gref might, after leaving the post of head of Sberbank, go to work for the oligarch, since they are on good terms.

It is known that Gref covered Yevtushenkov in his dispute with one of the oil companies five years ago. The latter believed that Yevtushenkov, by his actions, inflicted damage on Bashneft, which the oil giant demanded to be compensated, while Yevtushenkov, on the part of AFK Sistema, said that the oil company was seeking to bankrupt him. As a result, the parties entered into a settlement agreement. After that, Yevtushenkov spoke in the direction of Gref, calling him his defender in this dispute.

Gref himself, back in 2014, at the time when Yevtushenkov was arrested on charges of money laundering, stated that he regarded what was happening as nothing more than a tragedy. So, it can be assumed that Yevtushenkov and Gref have a long-standing friendship.

And the oligarch is now very actively engaged in buying up assets. Just a few days ago, it became known that AFK Sistema acquired the fishing company Loyd-Fish, which was associated with the former vice-governor of the region, Irshat Shaykhov. In addition, over the past year, the structure bought the manufacturer of electric-powered ships Emperium, the creator of Arkhyz mineral water, and increased its stake in the development company Etalon Group from 25.6% to 48.8%, and invested in other assets.

By the way, as soon as Veon announced the sale of VimpelCom, rumors spread that AFK Sistema could lay claim to the asset. Moreover, it was she who was its founder back in the 90s. And now in the portfolio of MTS. Increasing the market share in the cellular communication segment is extremely beneficial for the merchant. But AFC then refuted the brewing assumptions.

Perhaps Yevtushenkov does not particularly want to “shine”, so as not to cause a serious resonance in the environment, where questions may arise as to why the oligarch has been so zealously buying up assets lately. Moreover, according to the financial statements of AFK, there are signs of counterparties refusing to provide the company with deferred payment and / or loans.

Since Sistema’s debts are colossal, and the costly acquisitions are made mostly with bank money, The Moscow Post assumed that Mr. Yevtushenkov was seizing assets so as not to develop them, but to siphon funds, which he could then channel for their overseas projects.

One goal

And Mr. Gref can help Yevtushenkov with this. Especially considering the fact that the head of the state bank himself may soon be out of reach of Russian law enforcement agencies, following his former deputies who have “left away”. As previously reported, Gref’s former deputy Lev Khasis may have gone to America specifically to “save” Gref’s assets in that country.

Recently, Sberbank has also appeared in a number of controversial transactions. This, for example, is the sale of a stake in the Croatian Fortenova to the Arab investor Saif Veon, which “smells” of an international scandal.

Raises some questions and the sale by Sberbank of coal mines in the region, previously owned by DTEK Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, the Cypriot offshore Valleyton Investments.

Sberbank sold Sberbank and its ecosystem assets – Okko, Zvuk, STC, Evotor and SberCloud in favor of the newly created and practically unknown structure of New Opportunities JSC, which may be associated with the interests of Eduard Khudainatov.

Gref can make all these and other controversial transactions in a hurry so that law enforcement officers do not have time to get to him until he is abroad. By the way, returning to the question that Gref was “married” to AFK Sistema Yevtushenkov, I would like to say that the oligarch has assets abroad as well. Recently, The Moscow Post reported that through Denis Bass, he can own income-generating real estate, even in Ukraine.

Somewhere in that steppe Gref can go after his departure – to look after the brainchild of Yevtushenkov over the hill. By the way, there are rumors that the oligarch in the Government was “taken under the wing” by Mikhail Mishustin, and allegedly it is at the suggestion of the latter that Yevtushenkov now gets good assets in large quantities and, possibly, at a discount.

So, if the oligarch has set his sights on VimpelCom, then hardly anyone can block his path. Especially with a resource like Mr. Gref, who already once, probably, let Yevtushenkov into Seablift