The billionaire is deceiving even the Kremlin.
The Presidential Administration may terminate the investment contract with Legacy Development, the investor in the construction of a multifunctional complex on the site of the Izvestia publishing house in the center of Moscow with total area 168 thousand sq. m.
For ten years the company was unable to start construction. The freezing of the project has already led to the fact that Pyramid 2000, which was promised space in the future complex in exchange for the closed Tverskoy Passage shopping center, is trying to obtain compensation through the court.
About a third of the area is 50 thousand square meters. m - should go to the state. Legacy's ultimate beneficiaries are not disclosed. At the end of 2012, it became known that Samvel Karapetyan’s Tashir company became the general contractor for the reconstruction.
“Non-urgent” contractor?
Let us recall that the Tashir Group of Companies became the general contractor of the Izvestia complex, where the editorial office of the newspaper of the same name was previously located, at the end of 2012. The reconstruction project also included the area of the Tverskoy Passage shopping center.
For example, on January 19, 2016, it became known that Samvel Karapetyan’s company failed to deliver the Tverskoy Passage shopping center on time.
A mixed-use complex with an area of 168 thousand square meters should appear in place of Izvestia. meters, while about 30% of the area is 50 thousand square meters. meters should become the property of the state. However, this project was not completed on time. It is unknown when Tashir will commission the Tverskoy Passage shopping center.
“Raided”?
Previously, the closure of the Tverskoy Passage shopping center led to a major scandal. Tenants of the Tverskoy Passage shopping center put forward the version that there was a raider takeover.
“Bandits burst into Tverskoy Passage from all three entrances, threw out the guards and sellers, welded the entrances shut and filled them with foam,” this is how the tenant of one of the stores described the process of seizing the Tverskoy Passage shopping center.
How Samvel Karapetyan “squeezes out” all profitable government contracts
The Moscow Post tried to find out how a businessman manages to receive profitable contracts, including from government agencies.
Thus, companies associated with the Tashir group of Samvel Karapetyan received government orders worth more than 52 billion rubles in 2015.
For 2 last year Tashir-related structures received orders from state-owned companies and departments for approximately 116.2 billion rubles, of which about 52.9 billion rubles. - in 2015. According to this indicator, Samvel Karapetyan is firmly in the top three Russian companies according to Forbes.
"Multi-machine" business
The Tashir group includes more than 200 companies.
Their business segment is the most diverse.
"Tashir" is engaged in development, finance, construction, energy, and restaurateurs.
So, starting from 2014, structures associated with Tashir could receive government orders worth about 42.5 billion rubles. in 2014, by 52.9 billion rubles. in 2015 and by 20.8 billion rubles. in the first quarter of 2016: a total of approximately 116.2 billion rubles.
The Tashir website says that revenue “in the main areas of the group’s activities” in 2015 amounted to 140 billion rubles.
In the same year, Tashir collected $610 million (RUB 41.7 billion) from tenants. It turns out that government orders may account for about 40% of the group’s total revenue, and this income item may even exceed revenues from tenants.
“I believe Samvel’s main turnover comes from development,” says Ara Abrahamyan, chairman of the Union of Armenians of Russia and Karapetyan’s longtime partner. Karapetyan’s acquaintances from Kaluga, where he started his business, characterize Tashir as a “closed cycle” organization: Tashir itself produces materials, builds real estate, supplies electricity there, and then rents it out square meters to their own cinemas and cafes. “If you come to them with an idea, bring a bunch of estimates and calculations, tomorrow they will do it themselves. You can get there only by becoming part of a corporation,” complains the owner of one of the Kaluga construction companies.
Youth in Kaluga
Started my entrepreneurial activity Samvel Karapetyan in Kaluga.
Karapetyan earned money to purchase his first assets in Kaluga in the early 1990s, including through commercial stores, says Karapetyan’s Kaluga acquaintance. “I built their first store. Late nineties, grocery store on the outskirts of Kaluga. I never thought that these guys would grow into such a big company,” recalls the Kaluga furniture manufacturer, who furnished the first stores under the Tashir guise. The furniture maker calls Karapetyan’s then-assistants “Chicago boys”: “They have the right appearance, and they are very good managers—Karapetyan himself is active, and his guys have motor skills.”
Tashir built hotels, malls and even the building of the Arbitration Court in Kaluga - it is located opposite the pompous shopping and entertainment center "XXI Century", also built by Karapetyan.
Three Kaluga businessmen called Karapetyan Anatoly Artamonov’s “wallet”; the governor himself calls it gossip. According to Artamonov, Karapetyan never provided him with personal financial support, “but he always responded to requests for participation in charitable activities.”
Independent observers claim that the “friendship” of the governor and the owner of “Tashir” is based on mutual bribes!
13 years ago Karapetyan decided to develop Moscow business spaces. And there he found influential associates.
Gazprom - Samvel's personal well-being?
Most government contracts - approximately 38.8 billion out of 52.9 billion rubles. in 2015, companies affiliated with Tashir received from Gazprom.
The largest contracts from Gazprom were found in companies associated with Tashir: Gazstroy (23.2 billion rubles in 2015), Neftegazstroy (8.5 billion rubles), Spetsgazstroy (4.3 billion rub.) and City Stroy Group (2.7 billion rubles). All four companies provide Gazprom’s subsidiaries with a variety of services: from the overhaul of buildings, heating networks, water treatment facilities to the construction of large-diameter gas pipelines.
Since the beginning of 2016, Neftegazstroy has received orders for another 11.4 billion rubles: the company will build 60.7 km of the Power of Siberia from the Amginskaya compressor station to the Nimnyrskaya compressor station.
Tashir also includes the PMK-98 company, which is engaged in laying pipes for the construction of gas and oil pipelines. A company representative told RBC that Tashir acquired it in 2012. According to him, PMK-98 has no projects with Gazprom, but the company works at the Vankor field, participates in the ROSPAN project of Rosneft and Yamal LNG, controlled by NOVATEK.
Hence, presumably, profitable contracts on a regular basis!
And Samvel Karapetyan managed to get along with the right statesmen.
He was close to former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who owns apiaries in the Kaluga region, near the town of Maloyaroslavets.
The former head of the capital's Construction Complex, Vladimir Resin, remembers Karapetyan with great warmth: he oversaw the construction of the Moscow City skyscrapers, and Karapetyan built one of the objects - “that’s how we met.” According to Resin, unlike other developers, Karapetyan delivered his projects on time - and for this he received a credit of trust from the Construction Complex. He adds: Karapetyan was often hired as a sanator if difficulties arose with other developers.
Did the wedding party sing and dance?
The wedding of Karapetyan's son Sarkis caused a wide resonance.
The 23-year-old eldest son of the owner of the Tashir group of companies, who started his business in Kaluga, married 25-year-old Salome Kintsurashvili, co-owner of the Buy By Me resale store of designer items.
The guests were entertained by Alla Pugacheva, Grigory Leps, Dima Bilan, Philip Kirkorov, Nikolai Baskov, Timati, Valery Meladze, Sofia Rotaru, as well as the group Maroon 5, which gave a concert at the Olimpiysky the day before.
According to journalists, the banquet hall was decorated with portraits of the newlyweds and fresh flowers, in general, the design was similar to the styles of fairy tales from the Disney film studio, there were large fruit arrangements on the tables, and a six-meter wedding cake almost reached the ceiling of the hall.
According to media reports, the wedding of the son of the owner of the Tashir chain cost him $2 million.
Apparently, the son will become a “worthy” heir to his father.
As a gift, Samvel Karapetyan appointed Sarkis vice president of Kishir. You just need to learn how to make useful connections in a timely manner. Don't skimp on them in every sense.
Assets of the development company Stinkom, where the partner is Alexander Kolokoltsev, the son of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Russian Federation Vladimir Kolokoltsev is estimated by experts at $500 million. Some projects are connected through partners with the son of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Igor Chaika.
Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kolokoltsev
Vedomosti writes about this, investigating the entrepreneurial activities of the son of a Russian high-ranking official.
According to the publication, Alexander Kolokoltsev, at 32 years old, is a partner in the rapidly growing development company Stinkom. She does not have a website, but market participants estimate her assets at half a billion dollars. Stinkom did not answer Vedomosti’s questions about the group’s business and its founders. The President, founder and main owner of Stinkom, David Stepanyan, is called a respected businessman and philanthropist in the Armenian diaspora.
The most famous project of the Stinkom group is the Moscow shopping center Yerevan Plaza on Tula, built jointly with the Tashir group of businessman Samvel Karapetyan.
The newspaper writes about several episodes from the company's activities that may indicate a special relationship with the authorities. For example, Stinkom managed to defend a plot of land near the Universitet metro station: the Moscow authorities were unable to challenge the lease rights in the Moscow courts. There the company - again together with Tashir - wanted to build a large shopping complex on the site of several small shopping pavilions. In 2011, the Moscow Urban Planning and Land Commission recognized the construction as inappropriate and approved the proposal to terminate the investment contract. In 2012-2013, city structures began to file lawsuits against Stinkom companies, demanding that they be recognized as unauthorized construction and demolished. shopping pavilions near the metro. The courts rejected the authorities, and a year ago the commission unexpectedly considered the issue of “further implementation of the project for the construction of a multifunctional shopping center,” increasing its number of floors and parking space by one and a half times.
“Stink” is also connected with the son of the Prosecutor General Artem Chaika through the Armenian group “Tashir” - it cooperates with the company “Georesurs”, owned by Chaika Jr.
Under the subtitle “We came to the wrong place,” the newspaper talks about searches in Stepanyan’s office in 2011. The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow then investigated the criminal case of the former prefect of the capital Southern District Yuri Bulanov, who was eventually accused of theft. Izvestia and LifeNews, citing sources in the FSB, which conducted operational support of the case, reported then that the money stolen by officials from the Moscow government—about $1 million—could have “passed through the accounting department” of the Yerevan Plaza shopping and entertainment center. A month after the searches, the investigator in the case was fired, the investigative actions in Stepanyan’s office were declared unlawful, and the version of money laundering through Yerevan Plaza was declared unfounded.
According to Vedomosti, Kolokoltsev’s 32-year-old son also has shares in the company that manages the Il Forno restaurant chain, and was also a former co-owner of Matrix Telecom.
Housing for future residents of the Supreme Court will be built by the Tashir Group of Companies owned by billionaire Samvel Karapetyan for 5.8 billion. A company with an annual revenue of 160 billion received its first contract in St. Petersburg.
Samvel Karapetyan, photo - Gleb Shchelkunov/Kommersant
One of the largest government contractors in the country, Tashir Group of Companies owned by Samvel Karapetyan, is coming to St. Petersburg. Houses overlooking the spit of Vasilyevsky Island for judges moving from Moscow and the as yet unbuilt Supreme Court will be built by Cascade-Energo, a member of the holding. It was difficult for St. Petersburg companies to compete. The customer - the Presidential Administration - was again recognized as the winner
The competition for the construction of a 600-apartment complex remained intriguing until the very end. Participants named Special Tunnel Construction (STS), associated with the Vodokanalstroy holding, as their favorite. The company offered the most low price– 5.4 billion rubles and showed high qualifications - over the past 4 years it has mastered 25 billion rubles under comparable contracts.
Cascade-Energo lost on both indicators. But the victory went to him. Judging by the minutes, the commission was not impressed with the STS contracts. It received almost the lowest qualification score.
It is really difficult to compete with the Tashir group of companies in scale. It is an almost autonomous business empire. She builds housing and shopping centers from their own building materials. She opens restaurants there, shows movies, and sells food, clothing and household goods. Energy supply to Tashira facilities is provided by Cascade-Energosbyt. Finances and issues bank guarantees - its own Fora-Bank. The holding also issues permits, an analogue of construction licenses, to itself. For this purpose, there is a self-regulatory organization “Union of Construction Companies “Tashir”.
Last year, the holding’s revenue reached 160 billion rubles, the company said. These are two annual budgets of the Leningrad region. Forbes estimates Samvel Karapetyan's fortune at $3.9 billion.
Despite the scale of the business, the company is hardly familiar to St. Petersburg residents. She only owns the Rio shopping center on Fuchik Street, which was commissioned late in 2012. Tashir distributed most of the business that grew out of the Kalugaglavsnab company between the cities of two countries - Yerevan, Moscow and Kaluga.
Cascade-Energo is based in Kaluga. Formally, according to SPARK, the company belongs to Vladimir Gavrilov. But Tashir itself calls it part of its own Cascade holding, which specializes in the creation of electrical networks and power facilities, but a significant share of the load is provided by government orders and the construction of Tashir itself. Over the past 10 years, Cascade has become one of the main partners of the Moscow government. The holding renovates residential buildings, builds roads, transport hubs and hospitals, decorates the capital for the holidays and installs lighting for facades and courtyards.
Cascade-Energo also makes its contribution. The company is building the Zatonskaya hydroelectric power station in Bashkiria for 9.5 billion rubles, creating infrastructure seaport Sochi for the Olympics, participated in the construction of the multifunctional complex with winter garden in Moscow City - Tashir built it together with Soglasie CJSC.
Samvel Karapetyan heads the Kaluga Armenian diaspora and is personally acquainted with the head of the all-Russian Union of Armenians, Ara Abrahamyan, who, in turn, told the press about business ties with the Presidential Administration.
Karapetyan concluded his first contract with the Office of the President of the Russian Federation in 2011, when he committed to reconstruct the building of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise Izvestia Publishing House on Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow. Tashir should turn the former plant into a complex with housing, shops, offices and a hotel. According to the contract, after reconstruction, the investor will get 60% of the space in the project, and the state - 40%.
A new project with Upravdelami will help the company expand its presence in St. Petersburg. In the 2000s, Tashir was considering the construction of business centers in the city on the Neva. Later, the media reported on negotiations on the purchase of the MTER company, a contractor for the repair of heating networks. However, neither of these things happened.
It is possible that new facilities will appear in the near future. The Slovak House company, which has transferred the property, is now laying claim to the site on Kirochnaya Street, where the garage cooperative is now located.
With Vice-Governor Igor Albin, who is in charge of St. Petersburg building block, the management of Tashir is also familiar. In 2008, when Albin headed the Kostroma region, a conflict even broke out between them. The company began construction of the Rio shopping center in Kostroma without permission. Igor Albin threatened demolition, and then agreed that the investor would build it at his own expense kindergarten and transport interchange.
Familiarity with the Administrative Department for participants in his tenders seems to play an important role. The previous competition worth 28.9 billion rubles for the construction of the Supreme Court building itself and the Boris Eifman Dance Palace was won. True, the contract with her has not yet been concluded. Another applicant, PSB Zhilstroy, stated that the commission underestimated its scores for qualifications, and the Federal Antimonopoly Service.
About plans to transfer to St. Petersburg Supreme Court President Vladimir Putin said in 2012. Then it was planned that the whole process would take 2-2.5 years and... Today, the Administrative Department states that the move will take place no earlier than 2020, and the costs of construction and the purchase of the site from the previous investor, VTB, have already amounted to 47 billion rubles. The content of the project also changed - the customer waived the costs of restoring monuments: the Exchange on the Spit of Vasilyevsky Island and the empty Tuchkov Buyan.
As RBC found out, companies associated with the Tashir group of Samvel Karapetyan received government orders worth more than 52 billion rubles in 2015. How do they manage to win contracts with the Presidential Administration, the Federal Security Service and Gazprom?
President of the Tashir group of companies Samvel Karapetyan (Photo: Roman Shelomentsev for RBC)
The Moscow office of Tashir is located in the Nepman Club business center owned by Karapetyan in Podkokolny Lane. On the ground floor of Nepman there is the Forbest restaurant and karaoke: the first six letters look like the Forbes magazine logo, the letter t is represented by a tiny squiggle. Judging by this sign, Karapetyan had a premonition of his success: the establishment was opened in 2008 - two years before Forbes included the businessman in the list of the richest Russians.
The billionaire meets with RBC correspondents in the huge office of the Nepman Club: on the light walls there are Yerevan landscapes, from the window there is a view of the center of Moscow. Tashir is considered one of the largest players in the market commercial real estate, but, as RBC discovered, for the last two years a significant part of Karapetyan’s income has come from working for the state, including for the capital’s authorities.
According to RBC estimates, since 2014, structures associated with Tashir have received orders from state-owned companies and departments for approximately 116.2 billion rubles, of which about 52.9 billion rubles. — in 2015 (see information).
With such a portfolio, Karapetyan could well find himself in ninth place in another Forbes rating - “Kings of Government Orders - 2016”. Now this place is occupied by a pipe manufacturer for Gazprom - the owner of the Trubnye innovative technologies» Ivan Shabalov, the amount of his state contracts is estimated at 38.1 billion rubles. The founder of Crocus Group, Aras Agalarov, is ahead of Karapetyan and Shabalov with 69.3 billion rubles.
“And energy, and construction, and everything, everything, everything”
How does Tashir work?
According to Tashir itself, the group includes more than 200 companies from different areas of business - development, finance, industry, construction, energy, retail, restaurant business and entertainment industry: their list is not published. Karapetyan does not have a single management structure for the holding; the companies Tashir Management, Tashir Capital and Tashir Fund only partially perform this function.
Most of the Tashira companies are run by the same people who work, judging by their registration addresses, in neighboring offices and buildings. The construction companies of the group are united by membership in the self-regulatory organization (SRO) “Union of Construction Companies “Tashir”,” confirms Karapetyan’s representative.
Using data from SPARK and the government procurement portal, RBC analyzed 181 companies listed in the SRO established by the holding. It turned out that at least 18 of them are affiliated with Tashir and at the same time are major recipients of government contracts.
To obtain total amount government contracts of Tashir, the results of all competitions where these companies have the status of “Winner” were added up" And"The contract has been concluded." The actual amounts may differ slightly, since for the “Winner” status on the government procurement portal, only the initial contract price is indicated, without taking into account the reduction that the company could offer.
It turned out that structures associated with Tashir could receive government orders worth about 42.5 billion rubles. in 2014, by 52.9 billion rubles. in 2015 and by 20.8 billion rubles. in the first quarter of 2016: cumulativeby approximately 116.2 billion rubles.
A month ago, the head of the Skolkovo business school, Gor Nahapetyan, and the Tashir group re-opened the Aragvi restaurant in Moscow. Investments in the project amounted to over 260 million rubles, as noted on the Tashira website. According to Kommersant, the partners were considering whether to rename the legendary catering outlet, for example, “Ararat”.
Assets in Armenia
In September last year, Karapetyan’s structures bought two assets in Armenia from Inter RAO - Electric Networks of Armenia (ESA) and Hrazdan Thermal Power Plant. According to Inter RAO reports for 2015, 50% of ESA cost Karapetyan 1.1 billion rubles, another 50% should go to Tashir in the first half of 2016.
ESA's debts at the time of purchase were $220 million; as Karapetyan himself told RBC, the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan asked him about the deal - his administration was headed by Samvel Karapetyan’s brother, Karen, for several years, he is also involved in his brother’s affairs in his homeland. Samvel Karapetyan himself, according to the Armenian electronic registry legal entities, there are no companies registered in the country.
Samvel Karapetyan is building the Rio shopping center in Yerevan, the construction customer is the same name CJSC, formerly the Arabkir Furniture Factory, 36.9% of the shares of which belonged to the former mayor of Yerevan, now the Minister of Transport and Communications Gagik Beglaryan.Also a shareholder of Arabkir furniture factory was Gor Baroyan, whom local media call the assistant to the president of the Tashir group.
Baroyan owns a 25% stake in the export company Armholding, which is closely associated with Samvel Karapetyan. Many structures of “Armholding” are registered at the address of the Yerevan office of “Tashir”: Teryan Street, 59. The Wrestling Federation of Armenia, headed by Samvel Karapetyan, is also located here.
"Armholding", in turn, is the only member of the universal credit organization Export Finance, which is licensed by the Central Bank of Armenia and provides credit services to organizations that are not residents of Armenia.
With the participation of Lyudmila Podobedova, Ivan Golunov and journalist of the Armenian newspaper Hetq Grant Galstyan
The large-scale demolition of retail facilities in Moscow included 104 shopping malls, shops and pavilions. At the same time, the capital's authorities say that demolition will continue. The official recognized all these objects as unauthorized construction. Moreover, previously all these objects were agreed upon and registered properly in government agencies the same officials.
We will not discuss the subtleties of decision making. It is quite obvious that lawsuits will continue to be considered in courts of all possible instances for a long time.
It is much more interesting to see whose objects survived the large-scale demolition. Who managed to come to an agreement high level and retained exactly the same properties.
The company "Stinkom" managed to defend the site near the "University" metro station: Moscow authorities were unable to challenge the lease rights in the Moscow courts. There, the Stinokm company, together with the Tashir company, plans to build a large shopping complex on the site of several small shopping pavilions.
In 2011, the Moscow Urban Planning and Land Commission recognized the construction as inappropriate and approved the proposal to terminate the investment contract.
In 2012-2013, city structures began to file lawsuits against Stinkom companies, demanding that they be recognized as unauthorized construction and the retail pavilions near the metro be demolished. The courts refused the authorities, and in 2015, officials unexpectedly backtracked and positively resolved the issue of “the further implementation of the project for the construction of a multifunctional shopping center.” Moreover, they increased its number of floors by one and a half times and allocated additional parking space.
The Stinkom company is associated with the son of the Minister of Internal Affairs Kolokolyev, Alexander Kolokoltsev. The minister’s son is a prominent businessman, the assets of the development group with his participation are estimated at $500 million. Some projects are connected through partners with the son of Prosecutor General Chaika.
According to the Vedomosti publication, the most famous project of the Stinkom group is the Moscow shopping center Yerevan Plaza on Tula, built jointly with the Tashir group of businessman Samvel Karapetyan.
The newspaper writes about several episodes from the company's activities that may indicate a special relationship with the authorities. “Stink” is also connected with the son of the Prosecutor General Artem Chaika through the Armenian group “Tashir” - it cooperates with the company “Georesurs”, owned by Chaika Jr.
Under the subtitle “We came to the wrong place,” the newspaper talks about searches in Stepanyan’s office in 2011. The Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for Moscow then investigated the criminal case of the former prefect of the capital's Southern District, Yuri Bulanov, who was eventually accused of theft. Izvestia, citing sources in the FSB, which conducted operational support of the case, reported then that the money stolen by officials from the Moscow government - about $ 1 million - could have “passed through the accounting department” of the Yerevan Plaza shopping and entertainment center. A month after the searches, the investigator in the case was fired, the investigative actions in Stepanyan’s office were declared unlawful, and the version of money laundering through Yerevan Plaza was declared unfounded.
According to Vedomosti, Kolokoltsev’s 32-year-old son also has shares in the company that manages the Il Forno restaurant chain, and was also a former co-owner of Matrix Telecom.