Sminex will walk around the Patriarchs – Kommersant

Alexander Chigirinsky’s development group Snegiri, which began consolidating its real estate assets in Moscow back in the 1990s, began to get rid of them. The site near the Patriarch’s Ponds in the center of the capital, where the city authorities allowed the construction of elite housing, was sold by the company to Alexey Tulupov’s Sminex-Inteko. However, experts warn that now the implementation of such a project may be risky due to a serious decline in demand for expensive real estate.

Snegiri sold Rublevo Business Park LLC, which owns the company’s office, and 0.3 hectares under it in Bolshoi Palashevsky Lane near Patriarch’s Ponds to the owner of Sminex-Inteko, Alexei Tulupov. This follows from the data of SPARK-Interfax, where changes in the composition of the founders appeared on April 17. Sminex-Inteko declined to comment. Snegiri did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

Snegiri was founded in the early 1990s by businessman Alexander Chigirinsky. The company built in the center of Moscow – in particular, the residential complex “Garnet Palace”, the office centers “Alexander House” on Yakimanka and “Balchug Plaza” near the Kremlin. The company was also a co-investor in the construction of the Evolution Tower skyscraper in Moscow City, which was sold in 2015 for an estimated $1 billion to Transneft.

Alexey Tulupov was a co-owner of Rosbuilding, later founded Sminex. In 2022, the company for 38 billion rubles. bought out the Inteko Group of Companies, founded by Elena Baturina, from the Trust Bank. Sminex’s revenue, according to Forbes, in 2021 amounted to 22.2 billion rubles. Inteko’s revenue is 60.4 billion rubles, EBITDA is 21.7 billion rubles.

In 2020, Snegiri approved the development of a site in Bolshoi Palashevsky with elite housing with a total area of ​​12,000 sq. m. m. Then the company expected to complete the construction of the project in three to four years, the Vedomosti newspaper reported.

Sminex-Inteko could pay about 3.5-4 billion rubles for the site, Timur Ryvkin, director of the Nikoliers land development department, believes. Snegiri has been selling this territory on the market as an investment project since 2020, Kalinka founder Ekaterina Rumyantseva knows. Nevertheless, she continues, the current geopolitical situation has partly served as a factor for the sale of the object: developers have the opportunity to enter projects at large discounts, as part of the asset owners want to exit them as soon as possible. In addition, CORE.XP reminds that there are few building plots left in the center.

Konstantin Lebedev, Head of the Valuation and Consulting Department at the Commonwealth Partnership, believes that the new platform for Sminex-Inteko will help increase the company’s revenue in a short time. “Inteko is a troubled asset that was sold with a lot of debt, and now Sminex needs to service it, including through the implementation of small liquid projects and capital turnover in a short time,” he adds.

Previously, experts estimated investments in the development of the territory in Bolshoi Palashevsky Lane at 1.8–2 billion rubles, and revenue from the sale of apartments in the complex at 5.5–6 billion rubles. Now costs and revenues may rise. According to Mr. Ryvkin’s estimates, 3.5-4 billion rubles will need to be invested in the construction of the complex, and income from the sale of housing in the complex can reach 12-13 billion rubles.

However, now it can be risky to start a development project in the elite segment. The decrease in activity among buyers, which was observed throughout the past year, continues. According to NF Group estimates, no more than 140 apartments and suites were sold in elite new buildings in Moscow in January-March of this year, which is half as much year on year. Against this background, by the end of March, the volume of supply increased by 90% yoy, to 2.1 thousand lots, while prices decreased by 9% yoy, to 1.46 million rubles. for 1 sq. m, analysts said. “This is the biggest crisis in the elite housing market, which has never happened before,” notes Ekaterina Rumyantseva. According to her forecasts, this year the decline in demand in the segment will continue.

Daria Andrianova