Vyborg Timber Industry Corporation

History

2025: Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov bought Vyborg Timber Corporation

LLC Business inform"," owned by a billionaire, Mikhail Prokhorov acquired 90% of the bankrupt Vyborg Timber Industry Corporation LLC (VLK). The transaction was concluded on March 20, 2025, the nominal value of the acquired share amounted to ₽178,960 million. This is reported in the explanatory note to the financial statements of "Businessinform" for 2024.

According to Interfax, the Federal Property Management Agency twice put up this share of VLK for auction - in June and December 2024. The first auction did not take place due to the lack of applications at a starting price of ₽150 million. On the second attempt, the lot was sold at an initial price of ₽127,6 million. The winner of the auction was Businessinform LLC.

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Фото: Reuters

Earlier, this share in a 90% company owned by the former general director of VLK Nikolai Ryzhkov was arrested and pledged to one of the creditors, Tavrichesky Bank.

Vyborg Timber Corporation was a major producer of pulp and paper products and pellets in the North-West Federal District. The capacity of the enterprise allows the production of 1 million tons of pellets per year, which makes it a significant player in the biofuel market.

The history of the bankruptcy of VLK began in June 2018, when the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region declared the company bankrupt at the request of the International Financial Club (IFC) bank. The total amount of creditors' claims amounted to ₽7,2 billion. In relation to VLK, bankruptcy proceedings were opened, which will last until October 3, 2025.

In addition to the share acquired by Mikhail Prokhorov through Businessinform, the co-owners of VLK are also the Cypriot companies Anmelion Enterprises Ltd and Aspiant Holdings Ltd, each of which owns 5% of the authorized capital of the corporation.^[1]

Notes