Avtodom, two Andrei and Marriner: cleaning and self-elimination

Avtodom decided to postpone the IPO exit to 2025. The official reason is waiting for a more convenient moment. In fact, the owners of the company may want to correct some touches in the biography of the company and their own personally before offering themselves to potential investors. The Moscow Post correspondent understood the situation.

Kostin goes "left"

When Avtodom announced the purchase of the assets of the German automaker Mercedes-Benz, which had left Russia, The Moscow Post released an investigation in which it detailed the financial situation of the company, which, according to the author, leaves much to be desired, the connections of the main shareholders with officials and businessmen of "large caliber" and claims against the company.

Shortly after our publication, Andrei Kostin (not to be confused with the head of VTB), who owned 46.82% of the company left its capital. Immediately after it was the Bridge Capital organization, owned by partner Kostin Olkhovsky.

Such a sharp movement "to the side" can be explained by the fact that some not very pleasant facts of his biography were highlighted in the media. For example, the fact that at the dawn of the formation of business he became a victim of an unsuccessful assassination attempt. Which may indicate a showdown for the company. And who in this case could be the real "pusher" of the business is an open question. There are questions about how Kostin got the company, but evidence from that time (90s) has not been preserved.

The fact that Kostin could be connected with the not entirely understandable business of Alexander Warsaw, to whom the network media Scandaly.ru tried to attribute threats towards competitors and almost fabricate criminal cases. A few days after the searches in Rolf, the head of the company Petrov suggested that Alexander Varshavsky might be an interesting person. The fact is that shortly before the appearance of the criminal case, Varshavsky offered Petrov to sell the company, but he did not agree.

Alexander Varshavsky. Photo: Valery Levitin/Kommersant

Avtodom and Avilon are connected through an agreement between the former and Aurus. Avilon is his dealer. In April 2022, Avtodom and Aurus signed a dealer agreement in St. Petersburg, which became a continuation of the memorandum of cooperation concluded in the fall of 2021. In addition, Avilon was also interested in Mercedes, and, one must think, would have received it if they had not been on the same side with Avtodom. Both companies often produce the same models at the same time, and both receive government orders. They work more in an alliance than as competitors, although they try to seem like them.

Operation rubbing gum

In addition to the reaction of Kostin, who unexpectedly left, according to official figures, the company he founded, interesting steps followed from the second partner - Andrei Olkhovsky.

A curious publication is circulating on the network, which claims that, allegedly, Olkhovsky was caught on mass self-promotion, carried out in the interests of whitewashing his reputation.

A description of Olkhovsky's biography from 2021 can be found on Kommersant. Hearers claim that an attempt was made to release a laudatory article on Wikipedia, but it failed. As well as laudatory material about Avtodom.

There is no negative in those biographies that came out, although on the Web you can find more than one review, where users claim that allegedly in Avtodom they can engage in outright fraud, twisting mileage on used cars, attempts to impose unfavorable purchase conditions on the buyer and other "charms."

Photo: https://otzovik.com/review_6630310.html

Finance, government contracts and ties to Australian investors

As for the financial condition we mentioned, according to independent estimates, the organization has long been at risk of loss of independence, it does not have enough own funds to support its current activities and there is a risk of bankruptcy.

What, excuse me, "shishi" such a company bought Mercedes factories is an open question. Apparently in order to prevent bankruptcy, can she engage in not entirely honest manipulations in the market?

At the same time, the company has 355 million rubles of state contracts. Where did that money go? It is known that until recently, the founders of the company included the offshore company Prusto Investments Ltd. It is owned by CL SECRETARIES LIMITED. And that, in turn, to David Marriner. The name of the Australian developer and former owner of the theater is also called. Mr Marriner is a controversial figure with a colourful past that includes run-ins with the Australian Internal Revenue Service and the Queensland government.

Against the background of the available data, the question arises: did the funds from the Russian Avtodom go to Australia and were not invested in Marriner's projects?

David Marriner. Photo: https://www.heraldsun.com.au

As The Moscow Post found out earlier, Mr. Kostin had a hobby - he was a member of the E.B.K 50 biker club. Ambiguous persons, for example, Artur Eresko, were also noted in the same biker club. A person with such data appeared as a Ukrainian billionaire in a high-profile scandal in Latvia in 2017. It was about the complaint of the World Jewish Congress about the appropriation of real estate by the Jewish community of Latvia.

So, probably, we can say that Kostin's foreign contacts are not new.