Has FSK Voronin become one of the country’s top developers thanks to special relationships with high-ranking officials? 

As a Compromat correspondent reports, the development group FSK, which is owned by the family of former high-ranking official of the Moscow mayor’s office Alexander Voronin, is among the top five largest developers in terms of housing commissioning volume. 

Based on the results of the first quarter of 2024, GC FSK commissioned 93.7 thousand sq. m. m of housing, rising one position in the ranking and taking fifth place. Now the structures of “FSK Leader” (consumers know it under this brand) are preparing for delivery a number of large projects in Moscow and the Moscow region - residential complex Sydney City, Rotterdam, “Architect”, “Rimsky” and others. 

“Leader” is headed by Vladimir Voronin, the successor of the construction dynasty. Co-owner is Irina Voronina, Vladimir’s sister. The father of the businessmen, Alexander Voronin, for many years was the deputy of Vladimir Resin - at that time, the head of the entire construction complex in Moscow. Then - a very controversial State Duma deputy, who could “help” Voronin already from the State Duma.

After all, Alexander Voronin and his son Vladimir, who is now the main leader and face of the family business, are more than scandalous people. And these scandals, for the most part, are connected precisely with the quality of work of their companies. First of all, with frequent delays in housing commissioning, which regularly causes dissatisfaction among equity holders.

First among unequals

In 2018, FSK prophesied the fate of the sunk into oblivion and bankrupt Urban Group. Then the Voronins’ structure missed the deadlines for the commissioning of the residential complexes “Domodedovo Park” and “First Andreevsky” - thousands of families could not receive either living space or the money paid for it.

As Mosmonitor wrote, assets could be withdrawn from FSK companies, management was ready to emigrate to Malta, and law enforcement agencies were allegedly interested in the developer’s work. The mention of Malta is not at all accidental. The fact is that the billionaire Voronins and other members of their family acquired Maltese passports under the citizenship in exchange for investment program. Each such passport could cost about 900 thousand euros.

Of course, they had this right, they had the money. And how is it in the style of Russian businessmen and officials, they earned money in the Russian Federation and from our own people. But apparently they wanted to live in a completely different place. And wasn’t that where the money earned on Moscow construction projects went?

Of course, all these “body movements” made the shareholders extremely nervous. And, it seems, they had good reason. Apparently, the shares of a number of companies of the FSK Group of Companies were pledged to structures associated with them. In 2015, Irina Voronina’s share in FSK was pledged to Balashikha-City LLC . Vladimir Voronin’s share in the same structure is also included - but already SoyuzAgro LLC. Both transactions were accompanied by lawyer Kirill Sidorov, whose email was later found in SoyuzAgro contacts.

According to the press, these companies turned out to be affiliated with FSK itself. Moreover, they could be tied to a whole network of extensive offshore companies. Among them, for example, is the Cyprus offshore company Trafcon Holdings Limited. And issuing loans and taking one’s own companies as collateral smells very strongly of “schematism.”

Photo: https://www.compromat.ru/imgup/60154.jpg

However, then the collapse of the structure did not happen; the Voronins remained in business. At the same time, the news about FSK getting into the top developers does not mean that everything is fine in the company. At the end of 2023, the holding’s parent structure received a net loss of 413 million rubles. At the same time, the increase in losses for the year amounted to... more than a thousand percent. 

It turns out that funds received from subsidiaries can be withdrawn to the parent legal entity? A similar situation occurred in 2021, when the company’s loss exceeded 700 million rubles. According to the Rusprofile.ru information service, the financial stability and solvency of the structure raises concerns, and its operating efficiency is low.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru

If we take FGC Leader LLC, then its losses for 2020 are 430 million rubles. Not better.

But the problems with shareholders and company facilities have not gone away. And now the Internet is full of statements alleging that the company’s management (and at whose suggestion, if not the owners?) can put people in an awkward position, or even deceive their customers.

Photo: Rusprofile.ru

For example, in 2023, as before, a huge number of people purchased housing from FSK in installments, but on the secondary market these apartments became clearly cheaper. Moreover, the installment plan seemed to be completely imaginary. But when trying to terminate the contract, shareholders were presented with a 10% fine and a clause on mutual consent of the parties. Of course, the result was lengthy litigation, in which opportunities and resources were clearly not on the side of the buyers. 

An example is the scandalous Sydney City residential complex, where FSK filed more than 100 lawsuits against its clients. At the same time, we are talking about apartments, the keys to which people simply could not get at that time.

According to the Internet, representatives of the Voronins allegedly came up with an interesting “scheme”. They sent out invitations to people to receive keys to apartments that were not yet ready, although some buildings did not even have elevators. However, people somehow couldn’t make an appointment to receive the keys - the schedule was constantly “clogged.” This could be a banal manipulation to “tighten the rubber” before shareholders move on to more decisive actions.

Thanks to the Luzhkov City Hall

Согласитесь, как-то несолидно для одного из лидеров рынка. А ведь таких историй - вагон и маленькая тележка, в том числе, в последние годы. Но есть не менее интересный вопрос - а как ФСК, собственно, стал этим лидером, на какой базе Воронины строили свой бизнес?

Ответ может крыться в прошлом Александра Воронина, до 2002 года бывшего заместителем Владимира Ресина. Что удивляет больше всего - сами хозяева ФСК особо не скрывают то, как все начиналось.
В рассказе о бизнесе Ворониных в Forbes сами же бенефициары восстанавливают хронологию своего возвышения. Очень просто - Ресин и Воронин старший курировали все городские стройки Москвы. Деньги просто громадные - трудно даже представить. 

В 90-ые при с подачи Ресина и Воронина лужковская мэрия создала компанию «Главмосстрой», которая получала крупные подряды на строительство школ, детских садов и других учреждений в столице. 

Финансирование, разумеется, бюджетное. В 1999 году Александр Воронин, сын чиновника, стал финансовым директором еще одного вновь созданного предприятия «Главмосстроймонолит» - тоже бюджетного.

Как пояснял Владимир Воронин, тендеры выигрывала компания «Главмосстрой», но он (будучи чиновником) добивался того, чтобы та была генподрядчиком, а вот субгенподряд отдавали «Главмосстроймонолиту», где финансами заправлял его сын. И никакой коррупции, никакого конфликта интересов? Где была прокуратура? Впрочем, в 90-ые ей было не до этого...

Владимир Ресин – главный «благодетель» Ворониных? Фото: https://cdn.forbes.ru/sites/default/files/users/user577295/tass_12857138.jpg 

Важно другое. Впоследствии «Главмосстрой» был акционирован и приватизирован. И при этом его объединили с двумя крупными московскими трестами «Моспромстройматериалы» и «Мосмонтажспецстрой» которые составили строительно-промышленную корпорацию «Развитие».

Ее ключевыми бенефициарами, как вы уже догадались, оказались сами Воронины. «Развитие» участвовало во многих крупных московских стройках, выигрывало тендеры. Именно структуры Ворониных впоследствии получили незавершенные объекты рухнувшего Urban Group, и массу других «бонусов». Вот вам и база для построения бизнес империи. И снова - никакой коррупции?

«Напоролись» на Керимова

Но не все коту Масленица. В какой-то момент Владимир Воронин «спелся» с крупным олигархом, ныне сенатором Совета Федерации от Дагестана Сулеманом Керимовым. Последнему что только не приписывают. Его пытаются «пристегнуть» к рейдерским захватам и различным офшорным схемам. 

Вначале нулевых более половины, 51%, СПК «Развитие» принадлежало трем ЗАО: «Антиб», «Герен» и «Кентен». Владельцами каждой из этих компаний были по две компании, зарегистрированные на острове Мэн и владевшие российскими ЗАО в пропорциях 40% на 60%. Т.е. бюджетные деньги могли уходить именно туда.

The general director of three offshore companies, each of which owned 60% of Russian closed joint-stock companies, was Larisa Voronina. On May 23, 2005, these companies, established in 1995, were liquidated. 
At some point, Suleiman Kerimov took a fancy to SEC “Razvitie”. His Nafta Moscow, seeing the developer’s colossal income, decided to buy out his shares. It just happened in a very strange way. As a result of a series of transactions, a significant part of the SEC passed to Nafta. And then strong young men burst into the developer’s office and took documents from the safes. 

According to Forbes, this was one of the final acts of the deal between Kerimov and Voronin. Subsequently, Suleiman Kerimov fiercely sued those who called this incident a “takeover” of the business. Surprisingly, even this did not bring down the Voronins. Possessing a serious reserve of financial strength and strong connections in the mayor’s office, they created FSK Leader - now GC FSK. Today it includes about 45 companies, most of which are registered to Vladimir Voronin.

Vladimir Voronin. Photo: https://im.kommersant.ru/Issues.photo/DAILY/2016/127M/KMO_144918_00164_1_t218_164857.jpg 

Since then, their prosperity has only grown. And all - despite the scandals surrounding the holding. Including the personal problems of its beneficiary Vladimir Voronin. According to the Internet, he allegedly has an extremely tense relationship with his ex-wife - so much so that we can talk about bullying, attempts to pressure and take away children. All this does not add points to FSK. 

Thus, the story of the Voronins and FSK Leader is not at all a story of “old money” or incredible business abilities. A business empire implicated in government contracts and father’s connections among high-ranking officials can be successful. But its beneficiaries are unlikely to command respect among their colleagues...