Trademarks and website of the Respublika book chain sold at auction

The new owner of the intellectual property of the Respublika book chain, including its brand, is Dmitry Aliev, an individual entrepreneur. He purchased the lot at auction as part of bankruptcy for only 4.8 million rubles. at an initial cost of 53.5 million rubles. According to market participants, Mr. Aliyev can be an intermediary for the return of the network of bankrupt assets. Lawyers note that in practice, buyers in bankruptcy auctions are often associated with the owners of the debtor.

As part of the bankruptcy of LLC Respublika, on July 24, a buyer of the trademarks of the book chain, its mobile application for Android and the website was determined, follows from the information on the Federal resource. The winner was Dmitry Aliev, who for 4.8 million rubles. received, in particular, the trademarks Republic, Respublica, Republic of Books, ipublica, Aypublica, the Made in Respublica design concept and the paper bag design concept.

Now the Respublika stores are managed by a franchisee, ProLife LLC (100% owned by Intel-Rual LLC, owned by Igor Deriglazov, the founder of the Meloman holding), which entered into a license agreement with the chain in 2020. Respublika noted that on July 24 the contract continues to operate: “The network will discuss all emerging issues with the new copyright holder in working mode.”

LLC “Respublika” was founded by the owner of the manufacturer of products “Dymov” Vadim Dymov. The company operated approximately 40 stores in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg. The bankruptcy of the network began in November 2020. “Irreparable damage”, as claimed in the company, she caused a pandemic.

With the onset of bankruptcy, Respublika transferred all offline stores to franchisees, and LLC managed only an online store (see Kommersant dated November 19, 2020). In February, the brand and website of the book chain were put up for sale, the initial price of the assets was 53.5 million rubles. (see Kommersant dated February 10).

Kommersant failed to contact Mr. Aliyev. Sources of Kommersant believe that he may be an intermediary for the return of trademark rights to the network at a reduced price. In practice, “quite often” the buyer of bankrupt assets is associated with the owners of the debtor company, notes Vadim Borodkin, an adviser to Orchards. BGP Litigation’s Dispute Resolution and Bankruptcy Practice Advisor Ruslan Petruchak explains that the owners of the debtor “usually try to save valuable assets” by alienating them before bankruptcy to a controlled entity or already at auction. “In some areas, the beneficiaries use the “cyclic model” of business, in which the life of the company before bankruptcy can be three to four years. Then the business is taken over by a new structure, which receives the assets of the old one,” explains Mr. Borodkin.

At the same time, creditors are interested in the bankrupt’s property being sold as expensive as possible, while a person connected with the owners of the debtor, on the contrary, wants to get everything at the lowest price, emphasizes Ruslan Petruchak. But a purchase by an affiliate of the debtor at too low a price allows the bidding to be challenged, he elaborates, “so often an asset is acquired by an apparently independent entity.” Another reason for distancing the ultimate beneficiary from the nominal buyer, according to Vadim Borodkin, is to “clean up the business” and minimize the risks of subsidiary liability.

Yulia Yurasova, Anna Zanina