Rustam Tariko will share the bank. Hangover from Tariko
One of the key priorities for Rustam Tariko's Roust holding in 2017 will be work on expanding the wine portfolio in Russia: it is planned to include, in particular, products from Georgia and South Africa. In the future, the company expects to become one of the leaders in import wine sales in the mass segment.
For Roust, 2017 will be the year of mass market wine in Russia, the company announced in a report published over the weekend for last year. It says that the market for imported wine continued to decline in 2016, so projects in this category were funded on a residual basis. However, at the end of the year, Roust noticed an improvement in consumer sentiment. In addition, the stability of the exchange rate allowed the company to be more flexible in its pricing policy. “In 2017, we will change the situation significantly: wine has become one of the key priorities,” writes Roust.
As follows from the reporting, now Roust in Russia accounts for less than 10% of sales in physical terms. The company's portfolio includes brands such as the North American Gallo and Carlo Rossi, the French JP Chenet, as well as its Italian Gancia wines. According to customs statistics available to Kommersant, in 2016 Roust imported 1.28 million liters of still and 0.7 million liters of sparkling wines to Russia. The total volume of imports of these categories last year increased by 4.5%, respectively, to 174.73 million liters and by 4.8%, to 34.85 million liters (see Kommersant of January 20). At the same time, Rosstat recorded that sales of all still wines (Russian and imported) in 2016 decreased by 2.3%, to 849 million liters, and sales of sparkling wines - by 6.9%, to 220 million liters.
The main volume of Roust sales in Russia — 77% — is occupied by vodka: the company produces the brands Zelenaya Marka, Russian Standard, Parliament, etc. In 2016, its total sales in the Russian market decreased by 19.5%, to 57 .16 million liters, but, according to reports, in the first quarter of 2017 they showed an increase of 42% compared to the same period last year. The main owner of Roust is the founder of the company, Rustam Tariko.
This year, Roust is going to expand its wine line to include products from the Australian producer Yellow Tail. The company also announced the start of work with wines from South Africa and Georgia. In the category of inexpensive imported wine, Roust expects to achieve a leading position, the report said. Yesterday, the company was unable to answer Kommersant's questions.
Alexander Tkachev, head of the Ministry of Agriculture, in an interview with Kommersant in September 2015
We want wine to be our pride. After all, when a tourist comes to France, will he order Italian wine in a restaurant?
According to Vadim Drobiz, director of TSIFRRA, in the mass segment of imported wine in Russia today products are presented at a price of 200-400 rubles. per bottle, the leaders in it are the companies "Mistral Alco" (the main volume falls on wine from Abkhazia) and "Luding". Both companies also became the largest importers of wine in 2016 - 19.86 million liters from Mistral Alco and 15.89 million liters from Luding.
There is no Russian wine in Roust's portfolio today. Mr. Drobiz considers the desire of the company to expand the lineup due to imported products justified. “Sales of domestic wine, which boomed in 2015 due to a surge of patriotic sentiments, are now falling: the consumer, feeling more confident, began to give preference to imported products again,” the expert explains. According to Rosstat, in 2016 the production of domestic table wines decreased by 7.7%, to 368.48 million liters, sparkling wines — by 8%, to 147.35 million liters.
Of the imported still wines in 2016, in terms of growth in supplies to Russia, one of best performance was in products from Georgia: the volume of its imports increased by 46.7%, to 19.69 million liters (11.27% of all imported table wine, fourth after Spain, Italy and France). Other Russian companies are also showing interest in working with Georgian wines. In February, RBC wrote that Abrau-Durso was exploring the possibility of starting distribution of Georgian wines or acquiring wine-making assets in the country, and Simple was going to increase the area of vineyards it owns in Georgia. The volume of deliveries from South Africa also grew last year - by 29.8%, to 3.27 million liters (12th place in terms of imports).
Rustam Vasilyevich Tariko is a successful entrepreneur who managed to go from a janitor to a big businessman without connections and initial capital. He now owns a group of companies valued at between $5.4 billion and $10 billion. Rustam Tariko's holding "Russian Standard" combines a bank that became famous thanks to express lending, as well as companies involved in the production of vodka, insurance, pensions, etc.
Childhood
The future billionaire was born in the city of Menzelinsk, Tatar ASSR, on March 17, 1962. Rustam's parents divorced when the boy was one year old. The mother of the entrepreneur, Roza Nazipovna, worked in the district committee of the party, often went on business trips, from which she brought toys and sweets to her son. From childhood, the boy learned to be independent, knew how to clean, cook and do laundry.
At school, Rustam was a diligent student, and was also fond of music. The boy learned to sing and play the guitar. Soon Tariko created an ensemble and performed at school events. With the support of his mother, Rustam achieved the official status of the group at the local Palace of Culture, and the guys were paid official salaries for performing at discos.
After school, Tariko moved to Moscow, where he graduated from the Institute of Transport Engineers. During this period, music faded into the background, because the capital offered other opportunities for earning.
Business
As a student, Tariko got a job as a janitor to provide for himself. He did not accept money from his mother, but sent it back. and Later, Rustam Tariko got a job at the travel company Business Tour, which was managed by Emanuela Carboncini. The Italian mainly booked hotels for businessmen from Italy, but often faced bureaucratic difficulties. Tariko established cooperation with hotels and already earned $5,000 with the first group of tourists.
Tariko worked actively in a travel agency until 1990, while getting acquainted with influential businessmen. With the opening of the "border", the young guy got a job as a consultant for Martini & Rossi and Ferrero. So, he suggested that Ferrero SpA sell Kinder Surprises in regular stores. The Russian market accepted foreign chocolates with enthusiasm, which brought income to Rustam.
Rustam Tariko with a bottle of Russian Standard Original elite vodka / Photo from the personal archive of Rustam Tariko The company noted Tariko's entrepreneurial abilities and offered the guy to become a full-time employee. To do this, Rustam had to go to Luxembourg for one year to study. But the guy returned home much earlier due to the collapse of the USSR. The change in the political situation opened up new opportunities for Tariko, which he hastened to take advantage of.
Upon returning to Russia, Tariko invested the accumulated money in the import of expensive brands of alcohol. In 1992, he became the founder of ROUST Inc., which specialized in the distribution of premium quality alcoholic beverages, primarily Martini.
Entrepreneurial talent helped the young businessman to sell large quantities of alcohol and supplement the assortment with Bailey's liquor, whiskey, etc. Soon, Roust Inc. has become the largest importer of elite alcohol in Russia.
The crisis of 1998 stopped the development of the elite alcohol market. Tariko soberly assessed the current situation and decided to start creating his own alcohol brand. The target audience of the new brand called "Russian Standard Original" was patriotic Russians of the middle class.
Rustam Tariko in the cellar of his enterprise / Photo from the personal archive of Rustam Tariko Immediately after the default (August 1998), Russian Standard vodka appeared on store shelves. Soon this product took a leading position among high quality alcoholic products. Expanding the range, Tariko released the brand "Russian Standard Platinum" and "Empire". Gradually, the entrepreneur ensured the sale of Russian Standard vodka in 40 countries of the world.
The young businessman dreamed that Russian Standard would be associated with Russia in the same way that Sony was associated with Japan, and Coca-Cola was associated with the United States. At first, vodka of this brand was produced at the Liviz plant (St. Petersburg). But in 2006, Tariko opened his own factory, and also acquired domains to promote the product to the international market.
In 2011, Tariko bought a 9.9% stake in Central European Distribution Corporation, a large Polish holding producing vodka products. Soon, part of the shares of the Russian entrepreneur increased to 19.5%. However, CEDC filed for bankruptcy in 2013. When restructuring the debt of the holding, Tariko bought 100% of the shares. As a result, Russian Standard included more than ten famous alcohol brands in its portfolio: Absolwent, Zubrowka, Parliament, etc.
Rustam Tariko has three children - twin daughters Anna and Eva and son Rustam.
The entrepreneur is engaged in charitable activities. So, the most famous charitable organization of Tariko was the Russian Standard social support fund, which helps people who find themselves in difficult situations - victims of disasters, the unemployed, the disabled and low-income citizens.
The “Gifted Children of Menzelinsk in Moscow” Foundation, which helps talented children from the entrepreneur’s hometown to receive higher education and get a prestigious job.
State
Tariko earned his first million in 1994 on the import of elite alcohol. The capital of a talented entrepreneur increased every year. In 2006, the Finance magazine ranked the richest people in Russia. Then Rustam Tariko with a capital of 1.16 billion dollars (as of December 31, 2005) took 45th place among ruble billionaires. In March of the same year, Forbes (Russian version) estimated Tariko's capital at $ 2 billion and ranked him 31st among the hundreds of richest people in Russia.
Businessman Rustam Tariko / Photo from the personal archive of Rustam Tariko
In 2008, according to the Finance magazine, Tariko ranked 33rd among 500 Russian billionaires. The capital of the entrepreneur amounted to 5.7 billion dollars. However, Forbes magazine estimated Rustam's fortune at 3.5 billion and placed the businessman in 307th place in the ranking of billionaires around the world. In 2015, Tariko entered the "200 richest businessmen in Russia" in the ranking of the same "Forbes".
Rustam Tariko now
Today, the Russian Standard holding is a single group of companies with offices in Moscow, Warsaw, London, Toronto and New York. Tariko's alcoholic products are sold in 85 countries, and the annual sales volume is almost 40 million boxes. This makes the holding the second largest producer of vodka in the world.
Russian Standard Bank continues to develop an innovative direction - biometrics, online service from anywhere in the world, cash withdrawals at the cash desks of stores and one-click transfers between clients of different banks. Russian Standard entered the top 45 European banks that accept cards in offline stores. The bank has 12,000 employees.
Russian Standard Insurance provides life and health insurance services. The company's client portfolio includes 2 million individuals, for the entire existence of the company 20 million insurance contracts have been concluded.
Holders of default Eurobonds Russian Standard Ltd Rustam Tariko hired A1 (an investment division of Alfa Group) to negotiate with the issuer, the owner of Russian Standard securities said and was confirmed by a person close to one of the parties to the negotiations. According to Vedomosti interlocutors, A1 was approached by an initiative group that collected 25% of the issue: they did not agree to the proposed restructuring conditions.
Didn't pay twice
Russian Standard defaulted on $545 million in securities in October 2017 without paying a coupon. They were issued in 2015 for the restructuring of subordinated Eurobonds for $350 million and $200 million of the bank " Russian standard» Rustama Tariko. The holders of the bank's bonds received 18% of the face value and Russian Standard paper.
This issue is secured by 49% of the bank's shares.
Russian Standard offered two options in 2018: to buy back the securities for 25% of the face value or for 20% and the right to payments that will be tied to the results of Russian Standard. Both options are more profitable than withdrawal of collateral, the representative of Russian Standard convinced: 49% of the bank's shares are worth $50-70 million, and 25% of the bonds' face value is $136 million. I did not convince.
The Central Bank didn't help.
Bond holders turned to Central Bank Chairman Elvira Nabiullina for support. They presented the entire debt for repayment and demanded the return of $ 623.6 million from Tariko, threatening to recover the pledged shares of the bank. The group viewed bail collection as a last resort, they said in the letter. Requests to the foundations that signed Nabiullina's letter remained unanswered. A spokesman for Pala Assets declined to comment.
Option with foreclosure on the pledge of bank shares " Russian standard”is still a last resort, says one of Vedomosti’s interlocutors, but creditors can use it if Russian Standard’s debt cannot be settled in another way. The bonds are issued under English law, but the bank's pledged shares are governed by Russian law, the bondholder points out.
New Hope
A1 was hired to protect the rights of creditors, says one of the interlocutors of Vedomosti. “If the committee of creditors decides to resort to foreclosing shares, it may need the help of a strong Russian partner,” he explains.
A1 has extensive experience in dealing with complex corporate cases, the so-called special situations, notes Matrix Capital partner Pavel Teplukhin: these are conflicts between shareholders, inefficient management, and, of course, the settlement of bad debts, and not only in Russia. “Often such proceedings are not limited to Russian jurisdiction, and A1 are those who can just help with finding assets and collecting debts abroad,” he said. It was A1 Deposit Insurance Agency, the bankruptcy trustee of Vneshprombank (VPB), who entrusted the prosecution in the London court of the co-owner of the bank, Georgy Bedzhamov. The collapse of this bank in January 2016 was the largest case of falsified reporting in Russian history, the Central Bank estimated the hole in the bank at 216 billion rubles. At the end of March, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, at the suit of the VPB, arrested Bedzhamov's assets for $ 1.75 billion.
The representative of the holding Russian standard» had not heard of the bondholders hiring A1. A1 did not contact them, but the holding is in contact with bondholders, he said. A1 representative declined to comment.
The initiative group with a share of 25% is not the only one who is trying to return the funds invested in Russian Standard bonds: the Myriad Rus company, which unites the owners of another 9.8% of the bonds, wants to recover the pledge on the papers through the courts. Bondholders were going to apply to the Moscow Arbitration Court at the end of last year, but decided to postpone filing a claim until they find a buyer for collateral, says a representative of Miriad Rus: perhaps by selling it directly to a known investor at a pre-agreed price rather than through an auction. If the court upholds the claim and forecloses on the bond, we won't have much time to find a buyer, so we'd like to find an interested investor early on." According to him, the company is now consulting with foreign and Russian investment houses, trying to find buyers for the bank's shares.
The vodka oligarch has collapsed to the bottom of the crisis.
Russian Standard Bank decided to sell its Credit History Bureau. Russian Standard turned out to be the last of all the banks in the country to do this. He resisted until the last moment. But there is an instruction from the president - to open credit histories for the Central Bank. Russian Standard can no longer resist Putin. And he is forced to disclose his credit histories at least to the Central Bank. And that can lead to big problems. The fact is that the amount, as they say in the banking sector, of the non-refundable mass significantly exceeds the very share of Russian standard loans.
But the bank has neither more nor less than 33 million borrowers. And now information about them will be revealed. And this means that the situation in the financial position of the Russian Standard itself will be revealed.
Banking and vodka king
The owner of Russian Standard Bank is businessman Rustam Tariko. The bank is not his only brainchild. Tariko also owns a vodka brand of the same name, that is, also Russian Standard. By the way, a very popular brand among drinking people. In June of this year, Roust Trading Limited, which combines the alcohol assets of Rustam Tariko and Russian Standard Bank, defaulted on bonds worth $37 million. This month, Tariko's owner's holding company, Roust Corporation, persuaded bondholders to give him more than $500 million to pay off his debts. The problem is that the Roust Corporation could go bankrupt.
Hangover from Tariko
And, as a rule, clients of "Russian Standard" suffer from this. The fact is that instead of the promised 23% per annum, Russian Standard accrued amounts at least twice, or even many times more. In general, you could receive a card by mail, and you could use it, thinking that interest rate 23% ... I twist - I twist ... but I don’t care about safety. However, these cards somehow did not reach the customers. More precisely, it is clear how. They were stupidly stolen from mailboxes by pre-hired criminals. As a result, almost 40 percent of the inhabitants of the Volga region and the Urals suddenly owed Russian Standard 2 million rubles.
Because, the thieves activated the bank card that came by mail and removed all the cash from it. And the extreme ones turned out to be those that this card was addressed to. What a scam! And the bank seems to be completely out of business here. Tariko, in general, the guy is very cunning in terms of all sorts of scams. So, he managed to circle around the finger of his longtime partner in the banking business - the French company BNP Paribas. Almost with the wording "I changed my mind," he broke off the deal for the purchase by a foreign bank of a 50% stake in Russian Standard Company CJSC. BNP Paribas then filed a lawsuit in a London commercial court with a request to oblige the former Russian partner to pay compensation to the bank.
But here Rustam Tariko got hit, which is not typical for him, the most top-notch scammer. To prevent the case from taking on a criminal connotation with the participation of power structures, Tariko signed a settlement agreement.
And it drove him into a debt yoke. Because if he suddenly decides to sell someone else at least 10 percent of the bank's shares, he will have to pay the French a fine for the same amount. And this, only according to minimal estimates, is not less than 25 million dollars. And the agreement, by the way, was signed for a whole five-year period. In the last goal, rumors began to circulate that Rustam Tariko's bank was in a state of crisis. The bank laid off 50% of employees. Most importantly, "Russian Standard" refused to disclose financial results for the quarter!
And, meanwhile, for the year the bank goes into losses on average more than 20 billion rubles. It is not surprising that the reputable rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded the long-term credit rating of the counterparty of Russian Standard Bank to the pre-default "CCC minus". financial condition of the bank.Here it is better to listen to his clientele.As they say, the voice of the people - the highest law.
"Threats are coming from Russian Standard Bank. Delay in payments for three months. First they called from Kazan, I called my wife, my mother-in-law, they sent SMS to my mother that she was a creature and raised a freak. Now I started to record all conversations, I ask you to introduce your full name, position, name of the bank. Where the person is from my personal data, number and name. Today they called with a threat to come home, if they come, I will act in the same way as the bank operates, in case of threats in my direction on the territory of my house (I live in my house) I will act in the interests of yourself and your family, and to protect it by all available means.
"In 2011, starting in 2010, an employee Ildar periodically took out my parents and me several times a day. The loan was taken by our distant relative, with whom we have not communicated for many years. So he was guilty of the death of my dad! This Ildar I got it so much, and you know perfectly well how your employees communicate, that my dad had a heart attack, and my dad died, ”wrote Russian Standard about the persecution.
"I'll start by saying that my husband has been a client of your bank since 2007. credit card, paid on time, but life turned so that they were left without work. There are delays. As a result, in November 2015, we agreed with the bank to restructure the loan. They did a restructuring, so that the amount increased almost three times!
"I've been a client of Russian Standard since 2007 (or earlier). I never missed payments until 2016. Now it's a difficult situation due to the crisis and a collapsed business, so I missed a payment on two cards. Today, bank security officers came to the place of registration, they said, that I do not pay the loan and threatened my mother with a sick heart that they would come "cut the doors and take everything out."
And here it is necessary to put on public display credit histories. There is simply nothing to cover.
This became known to journalists of the Vedomosti newspaper from two creditors owning these papers, in addition, the information was confirmed by a representative of the Myriad Rus company, which acts on behalf of the group. According to the source of the publication, Myriad Rus has united the owners of 9.84% of the bonds.
Recall that seven-year Eurobonds worth $545 million were placed by Russian Standard Ltd in 2015. 49% of the shares of Russian Standard Bank act as collateral for them. In October 2017, the bonds defaulted: Tariko, who made his fortune selling vodka and bought a bank two years before the worst drop in oil prices in 20 years, did not pay a $35 million coupon to bondholders, citing a lack of funds.
In June, Bloomberg reported that a group of holders of 25% of the bond issue of Russian Standard Ltd demanded the immediate redemption of the securities that ended up in the hands of Tariko's creditors.
The other day, the London division of Citibank N.A., which acts as a trustee for Eurobonds, notified the holders of defaulted securities that some of them plan to file a lawsuit in the near future demanding to withdraw the collateral on securities - 49% of the shares of Russian Standard Bank.
About Rustam Tariko
Born in Tatarstan, 56-year-old Rustam Tariko was a permanent member of the Russian Forbes list from the beginning of the rating in 2004 until 2017.
He began to build a career in 1988 at the Business Tour travel agency. In almost 3 years, from an ordinary employee, he reached the position of a consultant in the Italian companies Ferrero and Martini & Rossi.
In 1992, Tariko began to build his own business - he founded the company Roust Inc., which was engaged in the sale of alcoholic beverages of the Martini, Smirnoff and Johnie Walker brands.
After 6 years, he founded the Russian Standard company, which has become a large corporation and today includes a number of companies. In 1999, Tariko bought Agrooptbank, renamed it Russian Standard and was the first in Russia to engage in consumer lending. By 2001, the bank broke even, and by the end of 2004, it took 2nd place in consumer lending after Sberbank.
In addition to the financial organization, the Tariko empire includes the Russian Standard Vodka and Russian Standard Insurance companies.
Tariko was the first in Russia to buy a personal Boeing, and, as he claims, he manages it exclusively on his own. What's more, he owns the world's fastest boat, the Terrible, which reaches speeds of 90 miles (or 144 km) per hour.
“Affordable luxury for everyone” is the businessman’s favorite phrase in his profile on one of the social networks.
Rust Holding, owned by Tariko, is aware of the demand of a group of investors. However, according to company representatives, this is not an unexpected or significant event and represents a technical step.
As a representative of Russian Standard Ltd. explained, it is unprofitable to collect collateral: 49% of Russian Standard Bank costs from 50 to 70 million dollars, while 25% of the face value of bonds is 136.3 million dollars.
“Currently, the issuer continues to discuss the terms of the agreement with the holders,” the holding notes.
As for the prospects of bondholders in a dispute with Rustam Tariko and Russian Standard, they, according to lawyers, are high: the process is quite obvious - the debt has not been paid, there is a pledge, and if there are no pitfalls, then it will not be difficult to foreclose on it .
