The court resumed the bankruptcy proceedings of the Vin Lefkadia structure

The Arbitration Court of the Krasnodar Territory has resumed the bankruptcy proceedings of Wines of Lefkadia LLC, which is part of the group of companies of the same name, follows from the filing cabinet of arbitration cases. On December 7, an interim manager was approved, he became a member of SRO “Synergy” Artur Shatokhin.

Wines of Lefkadia LLC filed for its own bankruptcy back in 2014. Two years later, the company managed to negotiate with creditors and conclude a settlement agreement. At that time, her debt was 758.7 million rubles.

Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Wines of Lefkadia received an 81% discount and had to pay counterparties a total of 144 million rubles, of which 139 million rubles. to the main creditor – Interfin LLC (this company is currently undergoing bankruptcy proceedings itself). The bankruptcy trustee of the latter filed a new lawsuit in April of this year, stating that the debtor had not paid off the debts.

A representative of Vin Lefkadia objected, saying that they transferred 139 million rubles. debt to Greenhole, which bought the debt from Interfin. True, the cession agreement, according to the materials of the case, was declared invalid by the court.

The first instance refused to satisfy the claim of Interfin against Wines of Lefkadia, but the 15th Arbitration Court of Appeal decided to terminate the settlement agreement with creditors.

This led to the fact that in relation to the “Wines of Lefkadia” the monitoring procedure began again. The company, however, had a chance to challenge this decision in the cassation instance. But on November 11, the Arbitration Court of the North Caucasian District refused to satisfy her demands.

A spokesman for Vin Lefkadia said the appointment of supervision and an interim manager was a “technical issue.” The legal situation in the company is normal, the working activity of the plant continues as before, the owners are the same, he said, refusing to give further explanations. Previously, he argued that the bankrupt legal entity only has a production license from the assets, and not a winery.

Dmitry Galantsev, managing partner of the Propositum law office, explains the termination of the settlement agreement by the fact that the appellate court concluded that the actions of the debtor and the recipients of money (two affiliated creditors – Greenhol LLC and Horoshaya Alternativnaya LLC) were coordinated in order to withdraw the receivable debt of Vin Lefkadia.

For the company itself, this means that they will now need to pay off their accounts payable in full, adds Vyacheslav Klimov, a lawyer at the Asterisk Law Office. According to him, in this regard, the risk of liquidation of the company following the results of bankruptcy increases significantly.

The representative of Vin Lefkadia disagrees. According to him, the amount of claims is insignificant and amounts to only a small percentage of the value of all assets of the plant.

Previously, the wine producer tried to suspend the introduction of surveillance in relation to its structure, citing the start of the grape harvest season. If this procedure is continued, the possibility of satisfying the claims of creditors is reduced. But the court denied this request. In addition, he arrested real and movable property, as well as money on the accounts of Vin Lefkadia for 734.6 million rubles. at the request of the Interfin manager.

Dmitry Prosvirin, managing partner of the Central District law firm, does not rule out that other companies of the Wines of Lefkadia group may be held liable in this case. And, at a minimum, the payment made by the bankrupt debtor to Greenhole LLC will be challenged, he concludes.

The Wines of Lefkadia group belongs to the winemaker Mikhail Nikolaev. As of 2021, his companies produced more than 1 million bottles of wine per year under the brands Nikolaev & Sons, Lefkadia, Magnatum, Likuriya, Sauk-Dere, Temelion and Amphitrion. His group of companies owns 3,000 hectares of land, 210 hectares of vineyards, as well as a development project and a balneological resort (last year it was visited by 60,000 tourists).

The revenue of Wines of Lefkadia LLC in 2021 amounted to 313 million rubles, and net profit – 1.4 million rubles. The group’s total revenue has not been disclosed.