Fplus wants to sue 2.1 billion rubles. from its founder Sergei Girdin

One of the largest domestic distributors and manufacturers of electronics, Fplus (formerly Marvel Distribution), wants to sue 2.1 billion rubles. from its founder Sergei Girdin and two former top managers. The claims may be related to a contract worth RUB 1.6 billion concluded in 2017. for the supply of equipment to IT integrator Asteros, which then went bankrupt. As part of the bankruptcy, the manager decided that the contract was not concluded according to market conditions and demanded through the court that the Fplus accounts be frozen. Now the company is trying to recover this amount from former top managers, lawyers believe.

In the file of cases of the arbitration court, Kommersant discovered that F-Plus Equipment and Development LLC, the parent structure of the Fplus holding (formerly Marvel), filed a claim for 2.16 billion rubles. to the founder of the holding Sergiy Girdin, ex-general director of one of the group’s structures Konstantin Shlyakhov and former financial director Alexey Simulin. The court left the lawsuit pending until November 24 for formal reasons. Fplus declined to comment. Mr. Girdin did not answer Kommersant’s questions. It was not possible to contact Messrs. Simulin and Shlyakhov.

Sergei Girdin founded the electronics distributor Marvel in 1991, RBC wrote. But it is difficult to trace Marvel’s direct affiliation with Mr. Girdin from open sources. In the media until mid-2021, he is referred to as “the founder and honorary president of Marvel Distribution.”

Kommersant’s sources in the electronics market claim that Mr. Girdin was “the actual owner of the company until 2022.” After the reorganization of assets and the creation of the Fplus holding, the owners of its parent structure (F-Plus Equipment and Development) first became Alexey Melnikov and Vladimir Kornev (50% each). Then, according to SPARK-Interfax, 100% of the company was consolidated by Mr. Melnikov. To date, Sergei Girdin has actually withdrawn from all assets associated with Marvel, Kommersant’s sources clarify.

A Kommersant source familiar with the situation explained that the claim is related to a contract concluded six years ago. We are talking about an agreement with the IT integrator Asteros for the supply of equipment for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the amount of 1.6 billion rubles. In 2018, Asteros was declared bankrupt, and the former head of the company, Yuri Byakov, was put on the wanted list for failure to return foreign currency earnings from abroad (see Kommersant, October 26). Alexey Belokopyt was appointed bankruptcy trustee for the bankruptcy; Kommersant was unable to contact him.

In 2020, Mr. Belokopyt filed a petition with the arbitration court to invalidate the transaction involving the transfer of 1.6 billion rubles by Asteros. in favor of MKT (it carried out the delivery under the concluded contract, now it is also part of Fplus), since the parties to the transaction, according to the manager, were affiliated. In April 2022, the court refused to satisfy the petition, but in November of the same year, an appeal overturned this decision, declared the deal invalid and decided to recover 1.6 billion rubles from MKT. and interest on the use of funds in the bankruptcy estate of the bankrupt. Now, explains a Kommersant source familiar with the progress of the case, Fplus is trying to recover these funds and additional interest on them from former top managers.

Such disputes are often found in the practice of Russian courts, and if three citizens brought in as defendants in a lawsuit were members of the bodies of a legal entity, then they can be held liable if it is proven that they caused losses to the legal entity, says Valery Zinchenko, senior partner of the Pen & Paper Bar Association . He adds that in such cases, the plaintiff bears the main burden of proving the unreasonableness and illegality of the activities of the persons held accountable. Bad faith, the lawyer clarifies, can, for example, be expressed in concealing company documents and information about transactions, as well as in their execution without appropriate corporate procedures.

Timofey Kornev