Imagine an airborne officer who established more than 6 companies, including a network of car dealerships, a transport company, and several advertising companies. This person’s name is Alexander Aronovich Geller. Why is his business on the verge of bankruptcy today? After all, 10 years ago, Forbes considered him one of the hundreds of richest people in Russia.
Empire of Alexander Geller: how did it all begin?
The biography of Alexander Aronovich Geller is interesting from the moment he began to sell used foreign cars back in 1992. Then the future oligarch founded the company "Gema". After working for several years and earning good capital, Alexander Aronovich began to think about expanding the business.
Then all the cars in Russia were imported by Finnish suppliers. Nobody seriously dealt with this in our country. Alexander Aronovich Geller was the first to see an empty niche and hastened to seize the moment. At first, two used Scania auto transporters were purchased for personal use.
By this time, Geller already had 4 car dealerships. Own equipment helped save a lot. And then there was a default. Gema paid its suppliers in dollars - business only benefited from this.
However, the demand for foreign cars fell slightly - the population simply did not have enough money to buy cars in the same volume, but at new prices. Alexander Aronovich Geller was not at a loss and decided to offer car transportation services.
Additional equipment was purchased, and by 2000, Geller completely squeezed the Finns out of this niche, becoming, in fact, a monopolist. Its fleet of car carriers was 4 times superior to the fleet of its closest competitors.
By 2006, the market situation had stabilized, and people began to buy foreign cars again. Despite the fact that several companies were already engaged in transportation, Gema Motors still dictated its terms and was the absolute leader.
Tough business rules from Alexander Geller
The methods that Geller used in this case cannot be called gentlemanly. They “twisted their arms” to the counterparties - the company could suddenly stop deliveries, referring, for example, to fictitious debt, and blackmail the manufacturer, knocking out more favorable conditions for itself.
This happened with 3000 Ford cars, which Geller suddenly “froze” in his warehouses. He later stated that deliveries had been stopped, since Ford owed him $ 4.5 million. The deadlines were on, dealerships in the salons were waiting for their cars, and Gema Motors lawyers calmly squeezed the money out of the manufacturer.
By the way, the Americans then unscrewed by filing a counterclaim and signing a contract with rivals "Gems". True, only at the cost of significant financial losses. If another company were in their place, she would have to be tight.
The fact remains, a month later, Geller was forced to retreat. However, this happened infrequently. The former paratrooper, in principle, does not like to lose.
Geller did not give mercy to competitors. Then dumping became his weapon. With the cost of a car carrier of $ 200,000, Gema took just $ 5,000 per flight. With the largest park, Geller could afford such rates.
Transportation business crisis
However, this could not last long. Gradually, many new companies entered the market, and Geme had to move. Of course, one cannot say that the company began to work at a loss, but one could only dream of previous profits.
Then Geller decided to expand the network of car dealerships. In the 90s, he traded in Saab cars. Now they have added Opel, Chevrolet, Jeep, Audi, Mercedes, Dodge, Chrysler and Skoda.
In 2007, the turnover exceeded $ 500 million. Only in 2006-2007, the company doubled the number of car dealerships: from 5 to 10 units. However, Alexander Aronovich did not stop there.
He wanted his piece of state “pie” - Geller decided to gain access to budget money. 700 luxury class cars were purchased. They were intended to serve officials of the Accounts Chamber and the Ministry of Natural Resources, deputies of the Federal Assembly, as well as private clients.
There was experience in creating a taxi service - 150 cars were bought for this. Geller buses carry around the city buyers of the largest shopping centers: Auchan, Mega, IKEA, OBI. In total, more than 100 pieces of equipment were purchased for these purposes.
Problems in the advertising business
Problems began, as always, when they were not expected. In 2011, Auto Cell, a subsidiary of Gems, unexpectedly won a tender for advertising in the Moscow metro. Please note that the contract expired only in 2016. Moreover, the starting price of the lot was 1.5 times higher than the deductions of the previous operator.
In the photo, the director general of Auto Cell is Galina Kogan.
Nevertheless, the auction lasted only 10 minutes. And it was not anyone who won the tender, but the then unknown “Auto Cell” with a registered capital of 10,000 rubles, registered 6 months before the auction. Something is poorly believed that this is a coincidence, and officials were not materially interested in believing in a new favorite.
As expected, the contract was terminated. Only a novice unexpectedly sued the subway for 3 billion rubles.
After that, a criminal case was brought against the company. In addition, the subway filed a civil claim for debt collection. Only in 2012, Geller somehow managed to agree. The company paid 400 million instead of the required 579 for the II quarter. In addition, she pledged to pay 600 million rubles in advance each quarter. Nevertheless, the debt of Auto Cell at the end of 2015 amounted to 1.12 billion rubles.
Business in a new way from Alexander Geller
Between 2013 and 2015, Geller came under a series of lawsuits. Auto Cell could not even pay the company that made it the site - just 1 million rubles.
At the same time, the company simply “threw” the contractor - they accepted the work, but did not pay the money. And this company was supposed to replenish the treasury of the subway by almost 30 billion rubles for 6 years. How could one hope so?
Further more. The contractor filed a lawsuit for 3 million rubles to the Gema-Invest company, which could not pay for the construction of the AutoTechCenter building. Again, the work was completed and accepted, but Geller’s structures refused to pay for it.
In addition, Auto Cell owed 1.8 million rubles for communication services. Apparently, doing business in a similar way for Gema has become commonplace.
The company is drowning: last hope
In 2015, Geller decided to take up the construction business. It became known that the Moscow City Hall intends to invest 20 billion rubles, and another 105 billion were planned for the next 3 years. How not to participate in the section of this "pie"?
Of course, after the scandals with the subway, direct access to state contracts to Geller was closed. However, the old ties remained. As the journalists managed to unearth, Vladimir Chernikov was the "roof" of Alexander Geller in the authorities. At one time, he served as head of the State Duma affairs department.
According to media reports, it was he who helped Alexander Aronovich Geller then with a contract for the supply of cars to officials. Apparently, he also helped in the history of the subway.
The My Street program included comprehensive repair of sidewalks on 50 streets of the capital. And again, as in the story with the subway, the unknown company Bekam won the tender for the supply of 80% of paving slabs. The contract amount amounted to 537 million rubles, but the company's revenue for 2014 - 1.08 billion rubles.
It is noteworthy that the director of the company is a foreign businessman Alex Geller, and the sole owner of Galina Kovaleva is an ordinary Muscovite.
And this is not the most surprising
Among the interests of the businessman was outdoor advertising. In Moscow, Alexander Geller’s company TRK LLC won a competition for 1,400 advertising spots. The competition was held in 2013. The total amount of the contract amounted to 22.5 billion rubles.
In December 2016, Geller again violated his obligations. Contracts with TRK LLC were terminated. In February 2017, the company still paid part of the debt. 5 out of 8 contracts were restored - 1,000 advertising spots remained at the disposal of the shopping and entertainment center.
However, at the beginning of 2018, TRK again delayed the next payment. Nevertheless, the company continues to accept advertising applications for this year.
Another scandal with an advertising contractor for the Moscow metro
After the Auto Cell scandal, which was declared bankrupt, not much time passed. And in 2016, like a bolt from the blue - the tender for advertising in the Moscow metro was won by the Trade Company company owned by Geme Alexander Geller.
RBC reports that FC Otkritie Bank acted as a guarantor. However, in 2017, it did not extend the guarantee, since it itself underwent a reorganization procedure. On December 27, police detained Rim Soghomonyan, Director General of Trade Company (pictured below). She is suspected of providing a fake Sberbank bank guarantee.
According to recent reports, Alexander Geller himself currently lives on Ostozhenka. However, persistent rumors are circulating that he will soon leave Russia together with his billions.
To summarize
Currently, the structures of Alexander Geller have big problems. What will happen to the enterprises is unknown. What is the oligarch hoping for? Will the next state contract be able to get him out of the financial hole? While law enforcement officers detain only managers. There are no complaints against the entrepreneur himself. Then why has he still not left the country?
Only time can answer these questions. The TRK company still occupies the 5th place in the rating of the largest suppliers of outdoor advertising in Moscow. However, she is constantly experiencing financial difficulties. A criminal case has been launched against the leadership of the Trade Company. Most likely, the company itself also expects liquidation.
Experts argue that the bankruptcy of the structures of Alexander Geller is inevitable and this is only a matter of time.