Artur Kirilenko

Artur Kirilenko
Born	Artur Vladimirovich Kirilenko (1972-06-22) 22 June 1972 Horlivka, Ukrainian SSR
Residence	Russia
Alma mater	Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Occupation	Entrepreneur, property developer, former owner of Stroymontazh

Artur Vladimirovich Kirilenko (Russian: Арту́р Влади́мирович Кириле́нко, born 22 June 1972), a Russian entrepreneur, from 1994-2010 owner and director of one of the largest property development companies in St Petersburg, Stroymontazh. In 2008 Finance magazine estimated his personal wealth at $1.1 billion, included him in their list of 100 richest people in Russia (ranked 91) and named him as one of the ten richest businessmen in St. Petersburg.^[1]

Education

In 2000 he graduated in economics specializing in the business of construction from the Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

In 2002 he successfully defended his thesis on competitiveness in the construction sector to become a PhD in economics at the Saint-Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering.

Career

Early Years

In 1989 he graduated from industrial technical college (the then “Gorlovsky technical college of the Donetsk National University”), and worked as a miner for 18 months before his was conscripted for military service in 1991-1992.

Stroymontazh

In 1994 with Sergei Polonsky he founded the St. Petersburg construction company Stroymontazh,^[2] and was its owner and director from 1994 to 2010.

When Stroymontazh opened a subsidiary division in Moscow in 2000 his partner Sergei Polonsky moved to the Russian capital while Kirilenko concentrated on the St. Petersburg market. In 2002 Polonsky and Kirilenko divided up the business and in 2004, Polonsky rebranded the Moscow branch of Stroymontazh as Mirax Group end eventually exited the parent company of Stroimontage: after dividing up the business, Artur Kirilenko became principal owner of Stroymontazh.^[3]

In 2008 with sales revenue of more than 5.5 billion roubles (€150million) Stroymontazh controlled about 10% of the construction market in St Petersburg in the residential sector, in 2008 the company completed and commissioned 286,000 square metres of residential property. Since its formation, the company built over 800,000 square metres of residential and 60,000 square metres of commercial property.^[4]

The company suffered considerable losses as a result of the financial and economic crisis of 2008-10 and a business dispute with one of its creditors Baltisky Bank; in 2010 Stroymontazh went into administration and in July 2015 the company was liquidated.^[4]

Disputes and litigation

At the height of the financial and economic crisis in 2008, as the construction sector experienced severe liquidity shortage, Baltisky Bank, one of Stroimontage’s creditors, raised interest rates on its existing loans several times and then requested immediate repayment before their maturity date. By 2009 the situation turned into a corporate war when Baltisky Bank launched a series of lawsuits against Stroymontazh with a view to seizing the company’s assets at a fraction of their market value.^[5] At the end of April 2009 Baltisky Bank brought two claims against the main shareholder of Stroymontazh, Artur Kirilenko who was credit guarantor for the company for some of its loans; they were subsequently declined by the court.^[4] Criminal charges against Mr Kirilenko, which followed on from the litigation, were also dropped in 2011 as the inquiry found no sign of criminal conduct or wrongdoing in Kirilenko’s actions. All transactions involving Stroimontage’s assets undertaken before the company went into administration were subsequently found by the inquiry to be economically justified, “that is, by improving the financial position of the company, they enabled the company to complete construction of residential properties for private investors and repay the amounts it owed to other creditors”. There was no sign of fraudulent activities, such as unfair (voidable) preference, asset hiding or any other criminal conduct associated with bankruptcy found by the inquiry.^[6]

In 2010 the court granted Stroimontage’s application for bankruptcy, the company entered into bankruptcy administration and Kirilenko resigned as company president. By the start of insolvency proceedings, Stroimontage had completed all its residential construction projects meeting all its obligations to homeowner-to-be investors under shared-equity schemes and restructured its debt to all but one creditor bank: the Bank of St Petersburg, Sberbank, Alfa Bank, Baltinvestbank, Rosbank, Credit Europa Bank, and others, while only Baltiisky Bank rejected the restructuring offer.^[4]

In February 2015 the Petrograd district court of St. Petersburg affirmed the settlement agreement between the subsidiaries of Baltisky Bank and Kirilenko as guarantor for Stroimontage on all hitherto outstanding debt. As of July 2015 Baltisky Bank was in the process of bailout and restructuring under the management of Alpha-bank, whilst its former owner and initiator of Stroimontage’s bankruptcy Oleg Shigaev was put on a wanted list and charged with fraud and money laundering.^[8][9]

Awards

Honorary Builder of Russia.

Family life

Married with a son and two daughters.

References

External links

• Official site