The structure of the owner of Capital Group Pavel Tyo received a share in tea production

Pavel Tyo, the main owner of the development Capital Group, has interests in the tea market. A structure controlled by the businessman became a co-owner of 25% of the Ryazan tea-packing factory, which produces “Three Friendly Elephants” tea. Tea consumption in Russia is not growing and without strong brands it is difficult to compete in the market, experts point out.

SM LLC, controlled by Pavel Te, received 25% in Ryazan Tea Packaging Factory LLC (RFF), discovered “Kommersant” in the SPARK database. The enterprise, as stated on the RChF website, has existed since 1954 and during the Soviet years processed up to 30% of raw materials from Georgia and the Krasnodar Territory. The RChF assortment includes tea under the brands “Three Friendly Elephants”, TeaTale, “Useful Botany”, etc. In several declarations of conformity for RChF products, SM LLC is named as a supplier of tea raw materials from India.

According to SPARK, Pavel Tyo controls 69% of SM through Velna LLC, another 10% of SM belongs to Petr Shatrov, 15% and 6% each belong to O2 and Magneto, respectively. The main owner of RChF with a share of 74.99% is Sergei Prokopyev, a former top manager of the Zerich financial group, it follows from SPARK. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, SM’s share in RChF is pledged to Mr. Prokopyev.

Pavel Tyo is one of the founders of the development Capital Group, which specializes in the construction of premium real estate in Moscow. Now considered the main owner of the group. Capital Group’s total portfolio of constructed, ongoing and planned properties is 11 million sq. m. m. These include Capital Towers on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment, the OKO tower in Moscow City, etc. The Capital Group declined to comment. Sergei Prokopyev did not answer Kommersant’s questions. The RChF did not provide comments.

Managing Partner of the Meta Group of Companies Maxim Leshchev notes that Ryazan is a small city where the real estate market is not developing very actively and therefore it is unlikely that the territory of the tea factory can be considered as a promising development site.

The expert believes that this is a private investment or part of a more complex transaction. Kommersant’s interlocutor in investment circles also believes that participation in the capital of the Russian Chess Fund may be a private investment by Mr. Cho. Managing Director of Peregrine Capital Dmitry Gabyshev notes that the SM company has probably not yet transferred funds for the share, so this package is pledged to the previous owner. According to him, participation in capital with a share of 25% is usually typical for a financial investor.

Kommersant’s interlocutor at the market says that during the USSR, the Ryazan tea-packing factory was one of the four main tea producers in the country, but subsequently lost its previous position and changed owners several times. According to SPARK, Sergei Prokopyev has owned RChF since the end of 2020.

The general director of the Roschaykofe association, Ramaz Chanturia, points out that the volume of the tea market in Russia is not growing, the profitability of producers is low and competition is extremely high. And in the RChF portfolio there are no brands with a noticeable market share, he adds. As Mr. Chanturia notes, for business growth in such conditions, innovative products are needed.

According to Roschaykofe estimates, in 2023 tea consumption should remain at the level of 2022 – 134 thousand tons.

Tea accounts for 33.9% of all hot beverage dollar sales, ranking second behind instant coffee, according to NielsenIQ. In 2023, according to company estimates, natural sales of tea in offline and online channels decreased by 4.9% year-on-year, while cash sales increased by 0.8%. Sales of instant coffee during this period increased by 3.4% in volume and by 4.3% in money, while natural coffee sales decreased by 3.3% and 0.3%, respectively, according to NielsenIQ.

Nevertheless, players and other investors remain interested in the tea market. Thus, the Milfoods company, which produces Poetti coffee, plans to launch a line of tea in the premium segment in 2025. And in the United Tea Company, which bought the capacity of the former Unilever factory with the Beseda and Saito brands, at the beginning of the year Stepan Sergeev, who may be the son of the general director of the United Grain Company Dmitry Sergeev (see “Kommersant” dated February 19).

Anatoly Kostyrev, Alexandra Mertsalova