MOSCOW, March 17 (RAPSI) - The Commercial Court of the Samara Region has declared “Tomet LLC” bankrupt. The bankruptcy procedure is to be underway at the enterprise for a period of six months.

On March 15, bankruptcy commissioner Anatoly Selishchev started his duties at the enterprise.

In accordance with the law, with the appointment of bankruptcy commissioner, the powers of Vladimir Chabrov, General Director of “Tomet LLC”, as well as of other managing bodies of the enterprise, were terminated, all accounting and other documentation of “Tomet” are to be transferred to the bankruptcy commissioner.

A press release issued by “Tomet LLC” reports that "the enterprise will not be liquidated and will continue to operate normally."

“All obligations to the employees will be fulfilled. I will monitor the timely payment of wages and the fulfillment of other obligations to the employees of the enterprise. We have already started getting acquainted with the employees, have held a meeting, where I have assured that the enterprise will work stably, the labor collective will be retained," Selishchev has said. 

Under his management, the procedure for the inventory of the “Tomet” assets will be carried out, as well as work on the identification and return of funds illegally withdrawn from the enterprise. Upon the completion of the bankruptcy proceedings, Selishchev will have to organize an open auction for the sale of the property of “Tomet LLC” to a new investor who will be able to offer the best conditions in order to fully satisfy the creditors' claims.

It is to be reminded that on September 21, 2020,PJSC “Togliattiazot” filed a claim for bankruptcy of “Tomet” to the Commercial Court of the Samara Region. The management of “Togliattiazot” based their demands on the judgement of the Komsomolsk District Court of the city of Togliatti dated July 5, 2019, according to which the beneficial owners of PJSC “Togliattiazot” Vladimir Makhlai and Sergey Makhlai, as well as their Swiss partner Andreas Zivy, were found guilty of large-scale fraud (Article 159.4 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and are obliged to compensate for the cumulative damage caused by them in the amount of over 87 billion rubles ($1.2 billion). Of this amount, 77.3 billion rubles (about $1 billion) are to be paid to PJSC “Togliattiazot” and 10.3 billion rubles ($140 million) are due to JSC “Uralchem”, a minority shareholder which owns 9.97% of shares in Togliattiazot.

However, since the representatives of PJSC “Togliattiazot” denied the fact of causing damage to the enterprise and renounced its status of a victim, by a court decision “Uralchem” was appointed as the claimant of the damages both in its own favor and in favor of “Togliattiazot”.

On November 25, 2020, the Commercial Court of the Samara Region introduced a monitoring procedure at “Tomet LLC” and appointed Anatoly Selishchev as its temporary manager. His work as the temporary manager resulted in a report on the financial standing of “Tomet LLC”, which concluded that it was impossible to restore the company's solvency in its current state.

Earlier, the manager told RAPSI that it was not possible to restore solvency, since the amount of “Tomet's” assets was 10 billion rubles ($136 million), whereas the amount of its liabilities made 87 billion rubles ($1.2 billion). “In my opinion, it is preferable to pay off as many of the creditors' claims as possible. But first it is needed to deal with the situation at the plant, and only then make some conclusions about what is better or worse. We will use any method stipulated by law,” Selishchev explained.

Anatoly Selishchev does not see any special risks that could arise during the implementation of the bankruptcy proceedings and the events arising from these proceedings. The only factor to take into consideration is that “Tomet” is supplied with all energy resources by “Togliattiazot”. Therefore, only TOAZ's opposition can provoke risks. “However, from the point of view of the preservation of the property complex and salaries, there should be no risks,” Selishchev believes.