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The banker was arrested in absentia

The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow arrested in absentia co-owner of the Asian-Pacific Bank (ATB) Andrei Vdovin. The banker is charged with two counts of fraud: according to investigators, Mr. Vdovin was involved in the theft of a total of $13 million received by the bank in the form of loans. His lawyer argued that we were talking about civil legal relations in the business sphere, to which the banker himself had nothing to do with it, but the court was not convinced.

The court arrested the co-owner of the Asia-Pacific Bank in absentia

The Tverskoy District Court of Moscow arrested in absentia Andrei Vdovin, co-owner of the Asia-Pacific Bank (ATB) and a minority shareholder of the Azbuka Vkusa supermarket chain, on charges of fraud. RAPSI reports this.

Petropavlovsk without bankers

The Asian-Pacific Bank (ATB), until the end of 2017, was controlled by the co-founders of the gold mining company Petropavlovsk Pavel Maslovsky, Peter Hambro and Andrey Vdovin, decided to sell 9% of this company. At the end of last year, these businessmen had options to buy out this stake (de facto, they pledged it to the bank under a loan), but there is no official information about their participation in the upcoming deal.

On March 1, the Board of Directors of ATB will consider the issue of the bank's withdrawal from the authorized capital of the gold mining company Petropavlovsk, the bank said in a statement.

Mainbanker Andrey Vdovin became editor of Spears’s Russia

Chairman of the Board of Directors of M2M Private Bank, co-owner of the Azbuka Vkusa supermarket chain and President of the Russian Golf Association, Andrei Vdovin, has now taken the chair of editor-in-chief of the Russian version of Spear’s Russia magazine. He promises that under his leadership the publication will publish articles about the personal achievements of bankers, their ups and downs in business.
link: http://www.rbcdaily.ru/media/ 562949988800533

Khait and partners are negotiating the purchase of Guta Insurance and Muscovy

In addition, B. Khait’s partner in the Asian-Pacific Bank, Andrei Vdovin, is negotiating the acquisition of the Moscovia insurance company, another source told the agency. At the same time, according to the agency’s interlocutor, negotiations have already been going on for more than six months and have not yet entered the final stage. He suggested that “it was precisely because of the delay in reaching the Moscovia deal that decisive steps were taken towards Guta Insurance.”
link: http://www.asn-news.ru/smi/ 8013

Asia-Pacific Bank lowered loan rates

OJSC Asian-Pacific Bank was founded in 1992 in Blagoveshchensk under the name Amurpromstroybank. In 2006, the bank came under the control of PPFIN Holding and received its current name. Strategic direction of activity - retail business. Before the completion of the merger with OJSC Kolyma-Bank and OJSC Kamchatprombank, Andrey Vdovin, Pavel Maslovsky, Peter Hambro and Kirill Yakubovsky each controlled 16.82% of the shares, the East Capital investment fund - 17.5%, IFC - 10%, chairman board of the bank Evgeniy Aksenov - 4.83%.
link: http://credit-lines.ru/aziatsko-tikhookeanskii-bank- snizil-stavki-po-kreditam

Ifc invests almost 1 billion rubles in the Asia-Pacific Bank

Asia-Pacific Bank is part of the Petropavlovsk group of companies, the beneficiaries of which are Kirill Yakubovsky, Andrey Vdovin, as well as the founders of the British gold mining company Peter Hambro Mining Peter Hambro and Pavel Maslovsky. The Swedish fund East Capital is already a minority shareholder of the Asia-Pacific Bank. Based on the results of the first half of 2008, the Asian-Pacific Bank ranks 163rd in terms of assets in the Interfax-100 ranking compiled by Interfax-CEA.
link: http://rosinvest.com/novosti/ 432996

M2M Private Bank elected a new Chairman of the Board

Due to the priority of this project for the Bank's shareholders, as well as for its even more dynamic development, the Meeting of Shareholders of M2M Private Bank OJSC on June 30, 2009. Andrey Vadimovich Vdovin was elected Chairman of the Board of OJSC M2M Private Bank. July 1, 2009 his candidacy was officially approved by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
link: http://bankir.ru/bank/news/ 93280/2278362

Moscow company wants to buy Parex banka

VMHY is owned in equal shares by Russian citizens Kirill Yakubovsky, Andrey Vdovin and Pavel Maslovsky, as well as by Englishman Peter Hambro. “The name was made from the first letters of the surnames of the co-owners,” Andrey Novikov, managing director of PPFIN Holding Ltd (a subsidiary of VMHY that manages its banking assets), explained to Business&Baltia.
link: http://www.kompromat.lv/item. php?docid=readn&id=5734

Andrey Vdovin assumed the position of Chairman of the Board of M2M Private Bank

On July 28, Andrey Vdovin assumed the position of Chairman of the Board of M2M Private Bank, the press service of the credit institution reported. On June 30, he was elected to this position by the meeting of bank shareholders. The message also says that Vladimir Zrazhevsky was elected as his first deputy.
link: http://www.banki.ru/news/lenta/?id=1377815

Barclays Bank PLC acquired 100% of the shares of Expobank CB LLC for $745 million.

Andrey Vdovin and Kiril Yakubovsky will retain their seats on the bank’s Board of Directors. Sergey Radchenkov will retain the post of Chief Executive Officer and will report to A. Khan.
link: http://www.cko-info.ru/bank3/

VMHY Holdings, owned by Andrey Vdovin, Kirill Yakubovsky, Pavel Maslovsky and Peter Hambro, intends to buy part of the assets of the Latvian Parex banka

VMHY Holdings, owned by Andrey Vdovin, Kirill Yakubovsky, Pavel Maslovsky and Peter Hambro, intends to buy part of the assets of Parex banka, its representative said. On March 1, VMHY submitted an application to the Latvian Privatization Agency (the main owner of the bank), the managing director of PPFin-Holding (owns VMHY) Andrey Novikov conveyed through a representative. According to him, the company is only interested in that part of Parex’s business that relates to the management of large private capitals: Parex Assets Management and the Swiss Anlage & Privatbank. The company expects a response from shareholders “in the near future,” Novikov said, refusing to discuss possible parameters of the deal. Maslovsky forwarded the questions to his partner, Vdovin: “I am involved in the mining part [of the general business – Petropavlovsk], and Vdovin is involved in the banking part.” It was not possible to contact Vdovin.
link: http://www.top-personal.ru/pressissue.html?22628

Private banking in Latvian

According to M2M Private Bank, the current chairman of the board, Andrey Vdovin, will be involved in strategic development and will remain a member of the board of directors. “We realized that we are ready to expand the boundaries of our presence and serve not only Russian clients. To implement strategic development plans at the international level, we need a manager with Western experience who has an impeccable reputation in the international banking community,” said Mr. Vdovin.
link: http://www.rbcdaily.ru/2010/10/12/finance/562949978982973

M2M held the Russian Challenge Cup 2012

M2M Banker’s Cup Pro–Am Russian Challenge Cup 2012 gathered an impressive line-up of players - mainly the bank’s clients and friends, personally invited by Andrey Vdovin, the bank’s shareholder. A total of 25 teams took to the starting line, in which golf fans had a unique opportunity to walk the course shoulder to shoulder with experienced professionals of the European Challenge Tour.
link: http://finparty.ru/section/events/record/1551/

They want to go to Switzerland through Latvia former owners Expobank

The main shareholder of M2M Private Bank, the VMHY group, owned by Andrey Vdovin, Pavel Maslovsky, Peter Hambro and Kirill Yakubovsky, plans to enter the Swiss market. As Robert Idelson, chairman of the board of M2M Private Bank, told RBC daily, the group has plans to buy a bank in Switzerland. VMHY wants to enter this market to create the infrastructure for a full range of services for servicing clients’ domestic and offshore capital, Mr. Idelson explained.

“We are creating an infrastructure that is typical for Europe, but unique for Russia,” explained Robert Idelson. - In Russia, basically all proposals come down to two things: either a deposit in a bank, or management investment portfolio within the local market, which means a fairly narrow range of offers. Normal private banking must provide the client with the opportunity to deploy capital throughout the world.”
link: http://www.rbcdaily.ru/2011/06/02/finance/562949980356781

M2M Private Bank among the top three Russian banks - SREAR’S Russia Wealth Management Award 2011

M2M Private Bank was one of the three leaders vying for the award as “Best Russian Private Bank”, along with Alfa-Bank (“A-Club”) and VTB24 Private Banking. Foreign banks represented in Russia have a similar position: Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and UBS Wealth Management. Andrey Vdovin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of M2M Private Bank, was included in the list of “Gentleman of the Industry” nominees. The full list of shortlisted organizations and individuals is presented on the official project portal PBWM.ru.
link:

At the end of April 2018, the Tverskoy District Court arrested co-owner of the Asian-Pacific Bank Andrei Vdovin in absentia. He is accused of fraud and theft of $13 million. Not only investigators have claims against the once successful banker, ex-president of the Russian Golf Association and co-owner of the premium chain Azbuka Vkusa. central bank accuses ATB of creating a financial pyramid (the bank went into reorganization on April 26), and Vdovin’s acquaintances are trying to recover millions of dollars from him and his partners in courts around the world. The entrepreneur himself left Russia back in 2017. Until now, Vdovin has not outlined his version of events in detail; for Forbes, the banker spoke about the collapse of the business empire.

Gold and money

Andrei Vdovin owes much of his career to former associate professor of the Moscow Aviation Technological Institute Pavel Maslovsky F 198. In 1993, Maslovsky and his partners organized the Tokur-Zoloto company, which owned an old gold extraction factory at the Selemdzhinsky mine in the Amur region. The company actively sold its shares to the public. The shareholders' money helped in 1994 to purchase a license for the exploration and development of the Pokrovskoye gold deposit. The settlement bank of Tokura was the Blagoveshchensk Asia-Trust, whose Moscow office was headed by a 23-year-old graduate of the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation, Andrei Vdovin. His deputy was another graduate of the Financial Academy, Kirill Yakubovsky, and it was he, as Vdovin says, who introduced him to Maslovsky.

Soon, Maslovsky and his first partners parted ways; he met the Englishman Peter Hambro and together with him began to develop the Pokrovskoye field. Tokur and its shareholders faced an unenviable ending; the company was declared bankrupt in 1997. At the same time, the license of Asia-Trust was revoked. However, Vdovin and Yakubovsky no longer had anything to do with the bank; in the mid-1990s they headed Expobank, where clients from Asia-Trust moved to. Expobank belonged to the Wimm-Bill-Dann company Gavril Yushvaev F 76, David Yakobashvili F 132 and partners. In 1999, the assets of Expobank were purchased by MDM Bank of Andrey Melnichenko F 7 and Sergei Popov F 27. And Vdovin and Yakubovsky received a license and brand for $3 million. This deal was financed by Maslovsky and Hambro; they had just started mining gold at the Pokrovskoye deposit and trusted the young financiers, receiving an option for 50% in Expobank in exchange for money.

Vdovin and Yakubovsky did not let the gold miners down. They managed to build the VMHY Holdings group (an acronym for the names of four co-owners, equal partners) around Expobank. In addition to Expobank, the holding included Expo-Leasing, Insurance Company"Helios-Reserve" and factoring FTC, as well as retail Asian-Pacific Bank, Kolyma-Bank and National Bank development. The gold mining business of Maslovsky and Hambro also grew: in 2002, their company Peter Hambro Mining PLC (renamed Petropavlovsk PLC in 2009) placed shares on the London Stock Exchange. stock exchange, by the summer of 2006 its capitalization increased 50 times, to $2.4 billion, Maslovsky entered the Forbes list.

In 2006, 20% of ATB and Kolyma Bank (they were later merged) were bought by the East Capital Group fund for $23 million. And in the spring of 2008, Vdovin and Yakubovsky managed to conclude one of the most successful deals, selling Expobank with assets of 24 billion rubles to the British group Barclay's. The British sought to increase their market share. Russia, with economic growth of 6-7% per year, seemed to be a promising market. Barclay's paid the partners an impressive amount of $745 million, valuing Expobank with a ratio of 4 to capital. Even before this deal, Vdovin and Yakubovsky decided to build on the basis National Bank developing a business serving wealthy clients. They invited all Expobank depositors whose funds exceeded $100,000 to switch to the NBR, renaming it M2M Private Bank. And vice versa, they left the NBR for Expobank corporate clients. Expobank's British shareholders were ultimately disappointed; in the fall of 2011, they sold the bank to Igor Kim, writing off about £300 million in losses.

And Vdovin, Yakubovsky, Maslovsky and Hambro, having paid off the debts of VMHY Holdings, received $400 million after the transaction with Barclay's. Of this, as Vdovin says, $200 million was distributed in the form of dividends, the rest of the money was left “in the business” - partners We were preparing to make a major acquisition not related to finance: a stake in the premium supermarket chain Azbuka Vkusa.

Debtor to Abramovich

The Azbuka Vkusa group of companies, founded in 1994 by Maxim Koshcheenko, Oleg Lytkin, Oleg Trykin and Sergei Vereshchagin, has been a client of Expobank for a long time. Therefore, when in the spring of 2008 Trykin and Vereshchagin decided to sell 30% of 50% of their shares, VMHY Holdings became the buyer of the 25% + one share stake. By 2012, Vdovin and his partners increased their share in the premium retailer to 49% - through participation in an additional share issue and the buyout of the shares of Trykin and Vereshchagin, who left the chain’s shareholders. Today Vdovin estimates VMHY Holdings’ investment in Azbuka Vkusa at $120 million. “The last package was bought based on the company’s valuation of $700 million,” the banker recalls. According to him, the shareholders of VMHY Holdings have never participated in the operational management of ABC of Taste: “For us, it has always been a portfolio investment.”

In parallel, together with Yakubovsky, they developed the banking business. In an effort to scale the M2M Private bank business, the partners began to look for a bank abroad. They looked closely at the assets of the Latvian Parex banka and its Swiss subsidiary Anlage & Privatbank. As a result, in mid-2013, Vdovin personally bought a small Latvian bank, Latvijas Biznesa Banka. Subsequently, the bank was renamed Bank M2M Europe and became a link between Moscow M2M and European banks, where wealthy clients could transfer money.

And in 2014, the partnership with Yakubovsky collapsed. An acquaintance of Vdovin claims that at some point Yakubovsky wanted to get into real estate (he is now developing the Netizen hostel chain) and decided to take out a loan secured by a share in Azbuka Vkusa. However, according to the VMHY Holdings shareholder agreement, this would automatically lead to a pledge of the shares of Vdovin, Maslovsky and Hambro. As a result, the partners decided to buy out Yakubovsky’s share. Vdovin denies the existence of such a mechanism. "There were different understandings of what directions the band should go in, and perhaps psychological fatigue - we've been partners since the early 1990s," he explains. According to him, the idea to buy out Yakubovsky’s share came from him, Maslovsky and Hambro agreed.

Yakubovsky’s 25% share, according to Vdovin, was bought out for $125 million, based on the valuation of the entire group at $600 million. Funds for the buyout were raised in the form of a two-year loan from Invest AG Roman Abramovich F 11 and Alexander Abramov F 21 and secured by 25% of ABC taste." Vdovin says that he doesn’t know Abramovich closely, but he knows Andrei Gorodilov and Irina Panchenko from the billionaire’s team well. The deal with Yakubovsky was closed in October 2014. And soon they regretted it.

According to Vdovin, historically the VMHY group attracted financing in foreign currency, so in November 2014, when the ruble exchange rate fell by half, the partners found themselves in a classic “scissors.” He recalls that Azbuka Vkusa violated covenants in terms of debt/EBITDA, and the company’s valuation fell to $250 million. “We must give credit to the Invest AG team, they met halfway and agreed that we would pledge another 7.5% of Azbuka taste,” says Vdovin. But the problem could not be completely solved. An acquaintance of Vdovin recalls that “Azbuka Vkusa” had a difficult time surviving the introduction of sanctions and the ban on the supply of premium products to Russia - the business model was collapsing.

The beginning of the collapse

In 2015-2016, VMHY Holding (Vdovin, Maslovsky and Hambro equally distributed Yakubovsky’s stake) was actively looking for co-investors. In a presentation for investors (available to Forbes), it was proposed to create an SPV company, which would include 49% of ABC of Taste and 75% of ATB. The value of these assets at that time was estimated at $400-450 million. The potential investor was supposed to transfer a 50% share in exchange for a three-year loan for $300 million. It was emphasized that in two years the value of the assets in the SPV would double and reach almost $1 billion. Vdovin admits that negotiations were held with potential investors. One of them, he said, was the Bonum Capital fund. He is associated with billionaire Suleiman Kerimov F 20. However, it was not possible to find a new partner. And at the end of 2016, the group was unable to pay Invest AG. As a result, Abramovich and Abramov received 34% of the ABC of Taste. VMHY Holdings retained a 12% stake.

At the end of 2016, the partners lost not only part of the ABC of Taste shares - in December 2016, the Central Bank revoked the license of M2M Private bank. Vdovin, recalling this, speaks of a significant tightening of the principles of the Central Bank’s supervision of banks in 2015, which was superimposed on the crisis and the deterioration of the payment discipline of borrowers. “The creation of reserves for private loans led to a serious decrease in ATB’s capital,” explains Vdovin. - It was decided to replenish ATB’s capital by selling M2M shares to it and subsequently contributing money to ATB’s capital. This is how M2M became subsidiary bank ATB." The financier claims that he had a plan to merge ATB and M2M Private bank, which had been discussed with the Central Bank since at least 2014.

It was proposed, among other things, to abandon the private banking direction, retaining only M2M technologies, and the bank began to reduce its business. “We reduced the M2M balance by 15 billion rubles, while the bank paid clients partly through own funds, partly due to an ATB loan of 6 billion rubles,” explains Vdovin. “The Central Bank did not like this, which prohibited ATB from lending to M2M.” This happened in October 2016; already in November, M2M began to experience liquidity problems and delay payments. Vdovin claims that the developed plan made it possible to merge the business of the two banks without losses for clients and deterioration of business. “ATB’s business model was very profitable, the bank had a strong position in the regions. However, the Central Bank did not accept our arguments. As a result, M2M clients lost about 5 billion, and ATB found itself on the brink of survival,” the financier laments.

The M2M Private bank, which lost its license (the Central Bank estimated the hole in its capital at 8.8 billion rubles), indeed pulled the Far Eastern bank with it - when the Central Bank ordered ATB to create 100% reserves for the M2M loan. Already at the end of 2016, ATB suffered a loss of 12 billion rubles, and the auditor KPMG in its conclusion expressed doubts about its ability to reserve debt. It also turned out that in addition to M2M, the bank issued more than 5.1 billion rubles to Andrey Vdovin, the Cypriot V.M.H.Way Holdings Limited and the FTC company. These debts totaled more than 70% equity ATB.

Vdovin says that since then he has not taken part in the management of ATB, since he ended up in the “black” bank list Central Bank. In addition, the regulator ordered VMHY Holdings to reduce its stake in the bank from 67% to below 10%. This requirement was fulfilled only by December 2017, but rather formally. ATB shares were redistributed among existing shareholders: the largest were VMHY employee Maxim Chernavin (31.8%) and IFC (25.4%), increasing their shares from 8% and 6.7%, respectively. “Nobody now wants to invest in the unpredictable banking sector,” says Vdovin. “Therefore, we could not formally comply with the Central Bank’s order to reduce shares in ATB.” Selling a stake in the Latvian Bank M2M Europe turned out to be easier. An acquaintance of Vdovin says that the local regulator (the Financial and Capital Market Commission) personally insisted that the banker withdraw from the bank’s capital. The new shareholders were a group of investors led by Signet Global Investors Ltd. They bought Vdovin’s share in the summer of 2017 for €7 million and renamed the bank Signet Bank AS.

Personal guarantees

Vdovin says that there was an opportunity to save ATB: “Even after the collapse of M2M, it remained an extremely profitable bank and by April 2018 it had created all reserves, having met all the standards. The holders of the credit notes and the IFC shareholder agreed to transfer their subordinated loans (about 4 billion rubles) to Tier 1 capital.” The Central Bank admitted that ATB had indeed formed 100% of the reserve before the announcement of its reorganization. The regulator's patience was overwhelmed by the discovery of a financial pyramid in the bank. It turned out that ATB branches offer the public bills of exchange from the factoring company FTC, which is part of VMHY Holdings. The company itself did not have cash flow, the bank had 100% reserves for her, and she could pay off the bills issued exclusively by issuing new ones. “ATB Bank actually managed this pyramid, selling people promissory notes of the company, whose debt to itself it recognized as problematic, almost hopeless for repayment,” said the Central Bank in a commentary sent to the media.

“The FTC bill program was agreed upon by the Central Bank! - Andrei Vdovin is indignant. - The bank reported on issued bills on a regular basis. The program was aimed at refinancing FTC loans to ATB. All money from the bills remained in the bank, which was under the full control of the Central Bank. I did not take part in the management of the bank, but I know that there was a plan to repay the bills during 2018 at the expense of the current business of the FTC and repay part of the debt.” The financier’s words that the Central Bank received reports on the situation with the FTC are confirmed by the bank’s correspondence with the regulator from 2016, which is at the disposal of Forbes.

With bewilderment, the banker comments on both his arrest in absentia and the charge of fraud, for which he faces up to 10 years in prison. According to Kommersant, law enforcement officers established that ATB took out two loans from offshore companies for $13 million, for which Vdovin acted as a guarantor. The money was not returned to the creditors. “A criminal case was initiated at the request of the Ashaya company, which belongs to Rustem Magdeev,” says Vdovin. - Ashaya provided a loan to VMHY in 2012. And until 2016 I received high interest rates for this loan. It is not very clear why I am accused of this. Not only is this a civil dispute, but I had no special status within VMHY Holdings. I was one of the shareholders through a family trust, which is disclosed in all regulatory documents" Magdeev, in a conversation with a Forbes correspondent, denied that Ashaya belongs to him, refusing additional comments.

Vdovin admits that in 2015-2016 he “committed stupidity” by giving personal guarantees for a number of loans to VMHY Holdings, which were taken out long before that. Who are the creditors? This, for example, is Vdovin’s old acquaintance David Yakobashvili. He told Forbes that in 2011 he deposited about $20 million into an account at M2M Private Bank under the verbal guarantee of Andrei Vdovin. Shortly before this, Yakobashvili and partners sold 66% of Wimm-Bill-Dann to PepsiCo for $3.8 billion. In 2012, Vdovin asked to transfer money from the bank to the account of his Cypriot VMHY Holdings Limited. “That’s what I did,” says Yakobashvili. “I didn’t ask for any special justification from him; everything was done solely on trust.” Everything was fine until in 2014 Yakobashvili asked to return the money - the banker refused under various pretexts. “Today, in total, taking into account interest, he owes me about $25 million, I have a corresponding receipt from him,” assures Yakobashvili. He says VMHY Holdings' total debt to him and his close friends and associates exceeds $130 million.

Among the creditors of VMHY Holdings is the president of the Russian Transcontinental Media Company, Alexander Mitroshenkov. In mid-2017, the High Court of London sided with him in the case of collecting €7.6 million from Andrei Vdovin. TMK did not answer Forbes’ questions. There are other cases won, says Yakobashvili - only about $50 million. We are talking about courts in both London and Cyprus. Guided by these court decisions, Yakobashvili, together with his partners, also intends to file claims personally against Vdovin, and not against VMHY Holdings Limited.

Yakobashvili is confident that the reason for the collapse of the group is not the tightening of supervision by the Central Bank or the collapse of the ruble exchange rate. “This was a deliberate withdrawal of money,” he is sure. The total amount of the group's debt, according to his estimate, is about $700 million, of which about $400 million can no longer be repaid for various reasons. “We will seek the return of the remaining $300 million, for which there are personal guarantees and liability of the co-owners of VMHY. They will have to pay,” says Yakobashvili, claiming that he also has claims against Maslovsky, Hambro and Yakubovsky. Maslovsky and Hambro declined to comment for this article. Yakubovsky stated that he has had nothing to do with VMHY Holdings since 2014, and all decisions in the group were always made personally by Vdovin.

Tense relationships with former partners and clients are part of Vdovin’s daily routine. At the request of creditors, for example, the money he received from the sale of a Latvian bank was frozen. “I feel like I let my partners down when I insisted on buying out Kirill Yakubovsky’s share,” Vdovin regrets. According to the former co-owner of ATB, the total debt of the VMHY group is $600 million, of which $120 million is due to debts to former banks M2M and ATB groups, about $350 million - loans from individuals. “Historically, we have never attracted financing from the group’s banks, but in 2014, when problems began with our clients and creditors, we were forced to do so,” admits Vdovin.

In late 2017, VMHY Holdings sent out a notice of reorganization to its creditors. “We wanted to carry out the restructuring through the Cypriot court through the bail-in mechanism (a mechanism in which investors, both individuals and legal entities, receive a share in the debtor company in proportion to their contributions - Forbes), explains Vdovin. “But after we lost key assets, I don’t think it will work.”

Alexey PASTUSHIN, Dmitry YAKOVENKO

New film by Andrei Karaulov “Caution, Vdovin!” talks about one of the most enterprising bankers in modern Russia - Andrei Vdovin. He owns the Asian-Pacific Bank (ATB), the gold mining company Petropavlovsk and the Azbuka Vkusa chain of supermarkets.

main feature an enterprising businessman - to withdraw money from banks abroad, ruin them, lend to his own business, and also not repay debts.

The film describes in detail why bankers like Andrei Vdovin arise, and what needs to be done so that the Bank of Russia is much more careful in its supervisory responsibilities, and does not allow unscrupulous businessmen to manage banks.

The history of Andrei Vdovin as a banker consists entirely of fraud or illegal transactions. In the first years of work, Vdovin did not stand out much, he learned all the intricacies of banking. For the first time they started talking loudly about the banker in 2001, when law enforcement agencies established that money was laundered through Vdovin’s bank - Expobank. The influential business newspaper Vedomosti even called the bank “laundromat number one” - this was the first public case of catching money laundering structures.

Over the next seven years, Andrei. Vdovin managed to pump up Espobank with assets and attract large clients to service it. All this was done to present Espobank as a high-quality, healthy bank that could be sold. A buyer was also found - the British group Barclays. In 2008, this deal was loudly heard in all Russian media, because Expobank was sold at 4 times capital, that is, it was valued very expensively. However, very soon Barclays realized that Russian bank Instead of profit, it brings continuous losses: low-quality assets, expensive deposits. They ended up selling the bank and recording a loss of $500 million.

The banker himself, having got rid of one bank, acquired two at once. One on Far East– Asian-Pacific Bank, the second in Moscow – National Development Bank (later renamed M2M Private Bank). And if ATB mainly served individuals and companies (including lending to the gold mining company Petropavlovsk), then M2M was engaged in servicing VIP clients. As a rule, to work with wealthy people, you need banks in Europe, and Vdovin decided to buy Vdovin decided to buy a bank in Latvia - it was called Bank M2M Europe. Only the Latvian bank was mainly needed for the illegal withdrawal of money from the country.

The scale of suspicious transactions was so large that the Bank of Russia at the beginning of 2016 prohibited M2M from transferring client money to foreign accounts, and limited M2M’s operations to $10 million. By the summer of 2016, the situation with M2M began to deteriorate sharply, and in order to save it, Vdovin decided to carry out a deal - ATB buys M2M. And the Bank of Russia allowed him to do this.

In parallel with this, Andrei Vdovin appeared in court on a claim of non-repayment of a loan taken from Baikal Bank in the amount of 204 million rubles. It turns out that Vdovin simply decided not to give it up. In November, the Khamovnichesky District Court in Moscow ruled that Vdovin must repay the loan. But the banker had no time for that. M2M's problems have become so widespread that they have become known to the media. Vdovin became a frequent visitor to the Bank of Russia on Neglinnaya Street. He promised to resolve M2M problems in a matter of days, and the Bank of Russia believed him. However, in early December, the Central Bank had to revoke the license. At M2M.

But the main thing is that Vdovin, who brought one bank to bankruptcy, remained to manage and own ATB, which is among the top 50 largest banks in the country. At the same time, Vdovin became involved in another legal proceeding: in Cyprus, he was sued by the structures of Russian businessmen Roman Abramovich and Alexander Abramov. It turns out that Vdovin did not repay the loan to them - $150 million, which the banker took to purchase shares in Azbuka Vkusa.

It is logical that with such an owner, ATB began to have problems: the international agency Fitch downgraded the bank's rating to pre-default; the bank was exposed to a huge volume of loans issued to M2M - 6.5 billion rubles (they are now virtually non-repayable). The Sakhalin Region Development Corporation, which intended to enter the capital of ATB, canceled its plans after the scandals with Vdovin.

All this takes place with the active participation of the Bank of Russia. It is the supervisory authorities that coordinate the purchase and sale transactions of banks; it is they who are responsible for the cleanliness of bankers and their reputation. The Central Bank has repeatedly stated publicly that bankers who brought one bank to insolvency do not have the right to manage (own) other banks (they are blacklisted). But for some reason, in relation to Andrei Vdovin, the Bank of Russia is showing unforgivable myopia. He turns a blind eye to the fact that ATB is managed by a banker who appears in two legal proceedings, bankrupted M2M, and sold a “dummy” to the British Barclays.

It's time to introduce accountability for employees Central Bank Russia, otherwise the state will increasingly pay with budget money for errors in banking supervision.

Co-owner of the Asian-Pacific Bank (ATB) and one of the former owners of ABC of Taste, Andrei Vdovin, may be declared bankrupt. An application to the court to declare him financially insolvent was filed on August 14 by the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), the bankruptcy trustee of the collapsed Finprombank. The businessman owed him $11 million on the loan. Vdovin himself denies the existence of a debt, writes Kommersant.

According to the publication, Vdovin was a major borrower of Finprombank (September 19, 2016). And, as the DIA assures, to this day, despite the measures taken by the bankruptcy trustee, the debts have not been repaid.

“According to the inventory of Finprombank’s property, at the time of the opening of bankruptcy proceedings, the debt of Andrey Vadimovich Vdovin was taken into account on its balance sheet loan agreement with a principal debt of $11 million, the DIA press service told the newspaper. - Return Money should have been carried out on September 30, 2016, but to date the obligations to the bank have not been fulfilled.”

A long period of non-fulfillment of obligations, the absence of actions aimed at settling the debt are sufficient grounds for applying measures to the borrower forced collection, including within the framework of bankruptcy proceedings, are confident in the DIA. However, Vdovin, according to a statement from his representatives, considers DIA’s claims to be unfounded.

“This claim is completely unfounded: at present Vdovin does not have any financial relations with Finprombank,” Vdovin’s official representative assured the publication. “All previously existing financial obligations to Finprombank were terminated in September 2016, all supporting documents were repeatedly provided to the bankruptcy trustee.”

The DIA insists that during the period of bankruptcy proceedings in the bank, no actions aimed at repaying or restructuring the debt were taken by Vdovin.

It will not be easy to seize Andrei Vdovin’s property. According to materials from Khamovnichesky district court Moscow, he is in the process of divorce and division of property with his wife Sophia, a famous Russian golfer. According to a source familiar with the situation, the spouse will receive the vast majority of the property. The claim for division of property, judging by the court data, was filed on behalf of the wife almost immediately after.

Nevertheless, the bankruptcy procedure makes it possible to establish reliable information about the debtor’s property and prevent its alienation, lawyers emphasize. In addition, the bankruptcy procedure can significantly reduce the collection time and the bank’s costs for maintaining litigation, conclude in the DIA.

Vdovin until the end of 2016 was a co-owner of the Azbuka Vkusa supermarket chain. He is also still one of the largest shareholders of ATB. In connection with the collapse of ATB's subsidiary, M2M Private Bank, in December last year, Vdovin and his partners Alexey Maslovsky and Peter Hambro, at the request of the Central Bank to change ATB shareholders, are looking for a strategic investor for the bank.

The legal company Paradigma, representing the interests of Andrei Vdovin, announces the termination of Finprombank’s claims against the banker. "With proper study primary documents The DIA, obviously, could have established that Finprombank’s claims against Andrey Vdovin had long been terminated. No one took into account that currently Finprombank does not have documented rights of claim against Andrei Vadimovich. Based on the foregoing, it follows that filing an application for declaring him bankrupt is most likely an instrument of pressure from the bank and the DIA in order to present Andrei Vdovin in the most negative light, maliciously evading the fulfillment of obligations,” says the Bank’s letter received by the editors. .ru comments from a law firm.

Vdovin’s defense promises to present irrefutable evidence demonstrating the absence of any legal basis for the bank’s claims at the trial.

Education

He received his higher education at the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation, from which he graduated in 1993 with a degree in Finance, Credit and Money Circulation.

Labor activity

He has more than 25 years of experience in the banking industry.

Started working in 1988. He held the position of category II economist in the settlement and loan operations department of the Housing and Social Bank of the USSR, then was the chief accountant of the Aviabank branch, and later headed the Moscow branch of Asia-Trust JSCB with the rank of director.

Since 1996, he has been an employee of Expobank CB. In 2003-2006, he was Chairman of the Board of Expobank. As a co-owner of a credit institution, in 2008 he and his partners completed a deal to sell Expobank to the largest British holding company, Barclays Bank PLC.

In 2001-2002 worked at JSCB "Moscow Business World", LLC "European-Asian Credit Bank".

After the successful sale of Expobank, he continued his career as a banker at M2M Private Bank OJSC. From July 2009 to October 2010, he headed the board of directors of the bank, and at the time of revocation of the license from this credit institution in December 2016, he headed the board of directors.

Headed the board and was a key shareholder

From June 2013 to December 2014 he was president of the Russian Golf Association (RGA).

Until the beginning of March 2017, he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asian-Pacific Bank, of which he is currently a shareholder (through PPFIN Region he controls about 23% of ATB).

Today, together with Russian and British partners, the banker owns shares of several international companies and financial institutions, including: Asian-Pacific Bank, luxury supermarket chain “Azbuka Vkusa”, investment company “M2M Asset Management”, IC “Helios”, leasing company “EXPO-Leasing” and factoring company “FTK”.

In May 2017, he signed an agreement to sell shares of Bank M2M Europe, previously owned by him and his family. As a result of this transaction, Signet Global Investors Ltd owns 25% of the bank's shares, SIA Hansalink - 22.3%, and SIA Fin.lv - 8.79%. Credit organisation was renamed Signet Bank.

On August 18, 2017, RAPSI reported that the Latvian authorities authorized the arrest of a stake in M2M Europe Bank based on a decision of the High Court of London to recover about 7.6 million euros in favor of the president of the Russian Transcontinental Media Company, Alexander Mitroshenkov. At the same time, it became known that Andrei Vdovin, co-owner of the Asia-Pacific Bank, could be declared bankrupt.

At the end of December 2017, it became known that the largest shareholders of ATB, the main one of whom was a businessman, reduced their shares to 10%.