Former agricultural lands of Telman Ismailov may be transferred to KVD Group

On 2.25 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the Moscow region, where the former structures of Telman Ismailov’s AST group planned to build 1 million square meters. m of housing, a buyer was found. The assets may go to the agricultural holding of a large producer of sweets and snacks, KDV Group, and be used for a dairy farm. The region is attractive due to high milk prices due to a shortage of raw materials, but the cost of this business is rising today, experts say.

KDV Agroholding LLC, part of the KDV Group, can buy 2.25 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the Klinsky district of the Moscow region as part of the bankruptcy of the former structure of Telman Ismailov’s AST group “AST – Collective Farm Klinsky”. This follows from the bankruptcy register. KDV Agroholding became the only bidder and received an offer to purchase two lots at a starting price of 369.8 million rubles. KDV Group did not answer Kommersant’s questions on Tuesday.

After AST – Kolkhoz Klinsky was declared bankrupt in 2019, its balance sheet included about 2.5 thousand hectares of land, as follows from the property inventory. In May, the Elgozinskoye agricultural firm, which is developing dairy production in the area, agreed to purchase more than 240 hectares.

AST planned to build 1 million square meters on land in the Klinsky district. m of housing, dairies and a starch production plant, Forbes wrote in 2009. But these projects did not materialize. In 2008, at the Cherkizovsky market, part of the AST, law enforcement agencies discovered containers with counterfeit products worth $2 billion. As a result, the market was demolished, and Telman Ismailov left Russia.

In 2015, the arbitration court of the Moscow region declared the businessman bankrupt, then similar procedures began in the structures of AST. In Russia, Telman Ismailov was also accused of organizing the murder of entrepreneurs Vladimir Savkin and Yuri Brylev and the kidnapping of singer Abraham Russo. But in 2021, the Montenegrin authorities granted political asylum to the ex-owner of the AST group.

Investment banker Ilya Shumov says that historically, land in the Klinsky district was used for dairy farming and, most likely, it is assumed that KDV will revive this business. According to the estimates of the General Director of Streda Consulting Alexey Gruzdev, on about 2 thousand hectares of land it is possible to place a dairy farm for approximately 1.2–1.5 thousand heads of milking herd, which, with proper efficiency, can ensure the production of 10–15 thousand tons of milk per year . The expert estimates the cost of such a project at 2–2.5 billion rubles. The National Union of Milk Producers (Soyuzmoloko) estimated the average profitability of farms with more than 800 animals in 2022 at 26.3%.

According to Kommersant’s sources in the market, KDV’s agricultural business is developing in parallel with the main one. According to BEFL data as of August 2023, KDV Agroholding managed 337 thousand hectares of agricultural land. The farms are located in the Altai Territory, Tambov, Oryol and Kemerovo regions. And the agricultural lands of AST – Collective Farm Klinsky could become KDV Agroholding’s first asset in the Moscow region.

As Alexey Gruzdev notes, the Moscow region is one of the most attractive regions for locating dairy farms due to the state support measures in force in the region, guaranteed sales and high prices for milk associated with the continuing huge shortage of raw materials for processing. General Director of Soyuzmolok Artem Belov noted that in the first half of 2023, purchase prices for raw milk decreased by 20–25% due to a drop in demand, but in June the situation began to improve. As Soyuzmoloko reported with reference to Rosstat, in September the average cost of raw milk for the first time this year increased by 1.1% compared to the previous month, to 29.4 rubles. per kg. But the figure remains lower than last year by 11.9%, the rate of growth in costs exceeds the rate of recovery of purchase prices, the union noted.

Anatoly Kostyrev