ST. PETERSBURG — The firm Tsertum-Invest, a partner of Tashir and Gazprombank and a co-owner of the Blagoveshchensk Valves Plant, has purchased the palace of Count Alexander Kushelev-Bezborodko.
The federally protected building, built in 1775 and reconstructed in 1858 and 1874, is located in the historical center of St. Petersburg, alongside the Summer Garden between the Troitsky and Liteiny bridges.
Rossiisky Auktsionny Dom had planned to auction the palace, at 24 Naberezhnaya Kutuzova, in December. The 6,250-square-meter building, owned by OOO Nevskoye, was to be sold off by Dutch auction with a starting price of 918 million rubles ($30.6 million), but a buyer was found before the bidding who was willing to purchase the property for 740 million rubles, said Andrei Stepanenko, director of the city's property fund.
Stepanenko declined to identify the buyer, saying only that it was a diversified Moscow investment company.
According to the Uniform State Register of Real Estate Property, the building's new owner is Tsertum-Invest. Interfax's SPARK database lists the company's owner as 29-year-old Filipp Polyansky and its specialty as financial intermediaries.
Polyansky said there were no concrete plans for the building, which could be reconstructed as a company's representative office or as a hotel. Investment into the palace could be equal to what the company paid for it, Polyansky said, declining to comment on how the project was being financed.
The deal was a major one, considering that before the crisis only land for long-term rent for residential construction went for those prices, Stepanenko said.
Tsertum-Invest is a partner of the Tashir group. According to SPARK, of Tsertum-Invest's six subsidiaries, companies in the Tashir group are co-owners of four. The diversified holding, whose main owner is Samvel Karapetyan, is involved in development, advertising and manufacturing.
"Tashir does have a series of projects with Tsertum-Invest, but this mansion was purchased by a company that was not acting on our behalf," spokeswoman Irina Kagramanova said. Tashir already has one project in St. Petersburg — it is constructing the 85,000-square-meter Slovatsky Dom shopping center.
Tsertum-Invest owns 98 percent of the Blagoveshchensk Valves Plant, also known as BAZ, according to the factory's financial reporting for the fourth quarter of 2009. BAZ is a supplier to Gazprom and several major oil companies.
According to the results report, BAZ's board of directors includes Polyansky, Gazprombank deputy CEO Ilya Yeliseyev and Alexei Nikolayev, a deputy CEO of Gazprombank subsidiary Upravlyayushchaya Kompania — Strategicheskiye Aktivy.
Yeliseyev was a university classmate of President Dmitry Medvedev and Polyansky's law professor.
Neither Gazprombank nor its senior management has anything to do with the mansion, the bank's press service said.
Until 2008, Polyansky headed the Foundation for Regional Noncommercial Projects "Dar," which according to SPARK is 100 percent owned by OOO Levit. That company is a shareholder in Novatek and, according to Novatek's financial reporting, its owner is the gas company's chief executive, Leonid Mikhelson.
In December, Novatek's press service said neither the company nor Mikhelson had anything to do with the purchase of the mansion.
When it bought the property, Tsertum-Invest was not acting on behalf of Tashir, Gazprombank, companies controlled by Gazprom, Novatek, or their shareholders or top managers, Polyansky said.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.