Roman Temkin fled to US, Polis Group bought reactive plant land
A company connected with disgraced Lenenergo top manager Roman Temkin has bought the site of the reactive plant. The deal will hasten the redevelopment of the entire Oktyabrskaya embankment.
The development company Polis Group, which, by all appearances, is controlled by the family of internationally wanted former Lenenergo top manager Roman Temkin, spent 1 billion rubles to purchase the site of the Reaktiv chemical plant on the Oktyabrskaya embankment. The plant’s capacity will be moved to the new site in Moscow District by July 1. Moving the enterprise will allow Polis Group and other builders who own land on the Oktyabrskaya embankment to begin redeveloping that territory. Construction of over 2 million square meters of real estate worth a total of 50 billion rubles has been announced on the embankment. Proximity to the chemical plant had put the brakes on those projects.
DP has learned that the Reaktiv factory, which has occupied a 1.8-hectare plot of land at 44 Oktyabrskaya Embankment for 70 years, will be moving away. The factory sold its land to holdings of the developer Polis Group, market players report.
According to RosRegister information, in 2013 Reaktiv signed over to Sberbank its land on the Oktyabrskaya embankment as security for a loan for its subsidiaries. But in 2016, that mortgage was bought out by Lyubov Temkina (that is the name of the mother of Roman Temkin, who is called the owner of Polis Group), as well as Marina Gorobets (who works at Polis Group) and Sergey Kuznetsov (who previously owned shares in Polis Group). Then, in February 2017, the Reaktiv land was rented for three years by Renovatsia LLC, which has now been renamed as “Polis Group LLC.”
Polis Group confirmed the deal and reported that it plans to open sales this summer. “Previously, the company was concentrating on development in Leningrad Province, in Kudrovo and Murino. Now the strategic decision has been made to move into urban territories,” said a Polis Group spokesman.
According to Reaktiv owner Alexey Nigmatulin, the deal was closed early this year. The price is not being divulged. Experts at Docklands Development estimate that it could be around 1 billion rubles.
“We will vacate the site by July 1. Right now we are moving production to a 2.2-hectare plot on Sixth Predportovy Proyezd, which we bought from Rostelekom on an installment plan. They have production facilities and the capacity we need there. The cost of the move will be over 100 million rubles,” he reported.
According to GosStroiNadzor, permission has been granted to build two residential buildings on the Reaktiv plot for a total of 78,000 sq.m. (52,500 sq.m. in apartment space) with parking and childcare facilities. Total investment in a project of this size could be 7 billion rubles, according to an estimate by Vitaly Korobov, development director for Akvilon Invest.
In February 2017 the builder had wanted to change the plan and went to GosStroiNadzor to get a new construction permit. But so far, that has been denied.
Polis Group was founded in 2010. Currently it numbers among the region’s biggest builders, with a portfolio of almost half a million square meters of residential space.
According to SPARK data, until 2014, Elena Temkina held a 48% share of Polis Group. She is the ex-wife of Roman Temkin, who lead the financial block at Lenenergo on Andrey Sorochinsky’s team in 2012 and 2013. It was under his leadership, DP sources assert, that the energy company began to actively store up cash deposits at Tavrichesky Bank (a total of 16.5 billion rubles were deposited). But in 2015, that bank nearly collapsed. It was subjected to restructuring. That cost Andrey Sorochinsky his post, and he was released early from his position of general director of the distribution company early in 2015.
Readers are reminded that Tavrichesky Bank was connected to the vodka king Alexander Sabadash, arrested in 2013 on charges of fraudulent VAT refunds. Soon after that arrest, Roman Temkin resigned from Lenenergo. And in spring 2014 charges were also filed against him in the Sabadash case: Temkin’s firm Es-ContractStroi was actively involved in Sabadash’s business scheme for tax optimization.
A search was announced for Temkin, but he managed to leave the country. According to market players, he is now living in the US.
Roman Temkin is not just taking a break in America — he is also doing business. Furthermore, market players assert that he is actively involved in Polis Group business, making all the decisions about the company’s development.
Attempts to confirm this with the businessman himself were unsuccessful. But Polis Group employees stated that they knew nothing about it.
According to SPARK, currently Olga Petryashova, whom market players identify as Roman Temkin’s sister, controls 80% of Polis Group. That seems to be true. Roman and Olga have more than a father in common. They are registered as living in the same apartment. Elena Temkina, the businessman’s ex-wife, is also registered there.
