Asteros

History

2023

Absentee arrest of ex-owner Yuri Byakov

At the end of October 2023, investigators of the Main Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow appealed to the Tverskoy District Court of the capital with a petition for the arrest in absentia of Yuri Byakov, the former head of the Asteros IT group. A businessman whose structures carried out work in preparation for the Sochi Olympics and the 2018 World Cup is charged with non-return of foreign exchange earnings from abroad on an especially large scale. Read more here.

Cancellation of 840 million debt by HPE when leaving Russia

in the Russian Representative Office the American HPE process of leaving market of the Russian Federation the current geopolitical situation, the company wrote off the debt of over 800 million listed rubles at Asteros - once one of the largest. IT integrators Russia This became known at the end of April 2023. More. here

How Asteros reached bankruptcy

Asteros JSC was declared bankrupt in July 2019, but various litigation in the framework of the bankruptcy case was actively going on in 2022, and continues as of the beginning of 2023. Court documents that are being released "pop up" some details of how the company reached a dismal financial state by 2017, when it became unprofitable.

A negative trend in the financial and economic activities of Asteros appeared in 2016 (photo - Asteros/Facebook *)

Large projects at cost

The decision of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District of February 14, 2023 provides data from an Asteros letter to the tax authority, which said that, starting in 2016, a negative trend in the company's financial and economic activities has appeared. Asteros then claimed that large customers, such as Codest Engineering, Gazprombank"", Deposit Insurance Agency"" "did not fulfill their obligations to pay for the work^[1].

The structure of the balance sheet deteriorated, receivables increased significantly, current losses on part of the projects formed, which led to a decrease in gross profit by 13%, a decrease in the taxable base for income tax. The cost exceeded the growth of income from ordinary activities by 5.1%, the court ruling says, citing a letter from Asteros to the tax authority.

And the balance of funds at the end of 2016 no longer allowed to overcome accounts payable, the court established^[2].

According to explanations of the reasons for receiving a loss in 2017, Asteros's costs for the largest projects, including Codest Engineering S.R.L., VTB24, BSA Luzhniki, Codest International S.R.L., MegaFon, Rostelecom in the total amount of about 2.389 billion rubles under contracts from 2014 to 2017, Asteros wrote off the cost in 2017.

Shortage of 3.5 billion rubles

In addition, according to the decision of the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District of February 14, 2023, the bankruptcy case essentially established the embezzlement of Asteros property in the total amount of 3.5 billion rubles, expressed in the form of a shortage of debtor property based on the results of an inventory conducted in 2018 for the first time for a period of more than 5 years.

From another court ruling dated October 2021, it follows that Elena Kuznetsova, general director of Asteros from August 2018 to May 2019, played an important role in restoring order in the affairs of Asteros and, in particular, in conducting an inventory that has not been there for a long time. At the time of her assumption of office, a monitoring procedure had already been introduced for the company.

As a result of the inventory, which lasted several months, a shortage of property for more than 3.5 billion rubles was revealed. To identify the perpetrators on the fact of identifying the shortage, Elena Kuznetsova at the end of January 2020 appealed to law enforcement agencies, namely to the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Southern Administrative District of the Main Directorate MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Russia for. To Moscow

However, the court documents do not provide the results of the consideration of her appeal to the authorities.

Millions of awards to top managers in not the most successful period

It is also known from the published court documents that during a difficult period for the company, Asteros top managers were paid millions of bonuses, mainly for 2017: "in the controversial pre-bankruptcy period, the debtor made numerous transactions to pay bonuses in favor of his employees."^[3].

Bankruptcy trustee Alexei Belokopyt, through the court, achieved the recognition of such payments as invalid in order to force the recipients to return the money and transfer it to the general bankruptcy estate.

The file of arbitration cases contains information about attempts by some former top managers of Asteros to challenge court decisions to "cancel" the awards. For example, Alexander Sayenko, who worked as the general director of Asteros JSC from January 2016 to July 2018, tried to challenge the recovery of 12.5 million rubles from him, paid to him by the company as bonuses based on the results of his work for 2017. In 2021, the court ordered to recover from him the indicated amount in favor of Asteros JSC for transfer to the bankruptcy estate of the debtor^[4].

During the period for which bonuses were paid to Alexander Sayenko, Asteros was in unsatisfactory financial condition, the court said.

The courts found that at the date of the controversial payments, the debtor answered the signs of insolvency and insufficient property, - says the court ruling on the cassation appeal of Alexander Sayenko dated April 21, 2022.

In addition, the court did not understand for what merits Alexander Sayenko was then paid bonuses.

Evidence of the fulfillment of the plan or other contribution, special merits to Asteros, as well as confirmation of the actual performance of the scope of work commensurate with the premium paid, which could serve as a basis for bonuses, are not presented in the case file, - says one of the decisions of the Court of Appeal. - Confirmation that the result of the defendant's activity was so significant that the payment of the bonus to him could be considered as reasonable and economically justified, there is also no[5].

Among other top managers who went to court about the "canceled" bonuses paid by the court earlier are former vice president, head of the Asteros treasury Irina Makeeva and former Asteros vice president Aleksei Kulikov.

Other controversial deals at not the right time

Since the opening of bankruptcy proceedings against Asteros in 2019, bankruptcy trustee Alexei Belokopyt has done a lot of work to invalidate through the court and cancel a number of Asteros transactions that took place when the company's financial position already looked doubtful.

The cancellation of such transactions is carried out in order to return the funds previously transferred by Asteros to various persons and send them to the general bankruptcy estate, from which debts to creditors are returned.

According to the file of arbitration cases, a significant part of the litigation over the past year is associated with attempts by these persons to challenge court decisions ordering them to return money previously received from Asteros. The file of arbitration cases contains data on the proceedings regarding controversial transactions both between Asteros and its affiliates and third-party.

In February 2023, for example, Marvell CT still continued to challenge the invalidation of its transactions with Asteros over the years for a total of about 1.6 billion rubles^[6].

Distortion of the real state of affairs and "aggressive" tax optimization

It follows from the published court documents that in the period from 24.05.2018 to 12.05.2019, a field Asteros tax audit was carried out against the debtor of JSC "" for all taxes and fees for the period from 01.01.2015 to 31.12.2017 (determination of the Arbitration Court of the city Moscow of 18.01.2021 in case N A40-58845/18-71-82 B). As a result of the audit, the fact of non-payment of taxes and fees, penalties was revealed and an act was drawn up on prosecution for committing a tax offense.

According to the results of the tax audit, a distortion of facts reflecting the economic activities of Asteros was also found. In particular, information about the work performed, the services provided, distortion of the actual economic meaning of the financial and economic operation, strangulation of the work performed, the court documents say.

There were also discrepancies in tax accounting of the type "gap," the use of an "aggressive tax optimization scheme" characteristic of organizations that provide artificial document flow without real financial and economic activities in order to obtain unreasonable tax benefits in the form of VAT deductions, formation of a loss on imaginary or controversial transactions^[7].

The role of the main shareholder is in question

In the cassation appeal, from the resolution on which the quote above in the block about prizes is given, the former general director Alexander Sayenko points to the ex-chairman of the board, president of the Asteros group and the main shareholder Yuri Byakov, as he also played a role in the fact that Asteros reached such a state. According to Sayenko, Byakov actually managed the company for many years, under his leadership all internal relations were built.

In the cassation appeal, the former general director said that the bankrupt state of Asteros JSC "was the result of not only mistakes and miscalculations in the management of the company," but also how Byakov managed the money^[8]. However, a detailed description of what Sayenko meant is not given in the court document.

Recall that earlier, without achieving full satisfaction of their financial requirements from Asteros itself, creditors also put them forward to Yuri Byakov. In 2021, the Arbitration Court Moscow and he also declared bankrupt and introduced a procedure for the sale of property against him. TAdviser wrote about it in detail (see). here

How much total funds Asteros owes to creditors as of the beginning of 2023 is not visible in public documents. As of January 2019, companies and individuals sent applications to the Moscow Arbitration Court to include a debt to them in the amount of about 33 billion rubles in the register of Asteros claims. Since then, the financial managers sold the property of the debtor and, as expected, made some payments to creditors.

At the same time, several former top managers of Asteros in August 2022 still challenged the arrest of their property and money as interim measures in a lawsuit from Sberbank within the amount of the bank's claims in the amount of about 13.3 billion rubles^[9].

* Owned by Meta, which in March 2022 was recognized as an extremist organization in Russia.

2021: Asteros founder Yuri Byakov has not repaid huge debts. Creditors led by Sberbank hunt for his property

As TAdviser found out, as of the beginning of 2022, creditors of Asteros, declared bankrupt in 2018, are still trying to return the money, and, having not fully satisfied their financial requirements from the company itself, they also nominated them to the main shareholder of Asteros Yuri Byakov. In 2021, the Arbitration Court Moscow declared him bankrupt, introduced a procedure for the sale of property against him. Moreover, in addition to Russia the bankruptcy case, Byakov is also in Britain and. Israel More. here

2019

Involvement of the law firm Linklaters CIS in the bankruptcy of the company

On December 25, 2019, the bankruptcy trustee of Asteros JSC filed a petition to involve the law firm Linklaters CIS to provide services in the framework of the debtor's bankruptcy case, according to the ruling of the Moscow Arbitration Court.

The court will consider the petition of the manager Alexei Belokopyt on January 22, 2020.

FTS presented requirements for the company for 95 million rubles

On September 23, 2019, it became known that the Federal Tax Service (FTS) of the Russian Federation presented two claims totaling about 95 million rubles to Asteros JSC.

The court will consider the applications of the tax department on November 6.

Declaring the company bankrupt

In mid-July 2019, the Moscow Arbitration Court declared Asteros bankrupt. This was reported by the Prime agency with reference to the operative part of the court decision.

Bankruptcy proceedings were opened by the court for 6 months. Alexey Belokopyt, who had previously served as a temporary manager, was chosen as the bankruptcy trustee. His report on the course of bankruptcy to the court should be released on January 20, 2020.

The court declared bankrupt the IT company "Asteros"

By mid-2019, there are several lawsuits against Asteros in the file of arbitration cases at once. For example, KB "Russian People's Bank" collects 189.4 million and 63.3 million rubles from the company.

In addition, requirements for the company were presented by: Russian Capital JSC (1.91 billion rubles), VTB Factoring LLC (788.9 million rubles), MTS-Bank PJSC (353.4 million rubles), Luzhniki Olympic Complex JSC (316 million rubles), LOKO-Bank Design Bureau (298.4 million rubles), FTS (107.7 million rubles).

In January 2019, companies and individuals sent applications to the court to include a debt to them in the amount of about 33 billion rubles in the register of Asteros creditors.

In June, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal rejected the complaint of Asteros JSC about the inclusion in the register of creditors of debt to Sberbank of Russia in the amount of more than 2.7 billion rubles.

The initial bankruptcy procedure - observation - in relation to Asteros JSC was introduced at the request of Aeronavigator, the debt to which was about 44 million rubles. The representative of the debtor in 2018 said that Asteros's payables are estimated at about 10 billion rubles, of which half are debts on loans to banks. According to the lawyer, the company had practically no property. He also reported that employees were leaving the company en masse - out of 1000 people, only 150 remained.^[10]

2018

Asteros debts exceeded 3 billion

As CNews calculated in June 2018, the amount of lawsuits that hit the well-known Russian IT integrator Asteros after his attempt two months ago to declare himself bankrupt has already exceeded 3 billion rubles^[11].

A jump in the total amount of claims occurred on May 28, 2018, when the commercial bank Russian Capital filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court to recover 1.77 billion rubles. and "foreclosure on pledged property."

This wording should indicate that Asteros took a loan from this bank on bail. However, any details regarding the launched proceedings in the public domain have not yet been presented, and the press services of Asteros and Russian Capital could not answer the questions of CNews at the time of the release of the material.

Note that the bank in question has been undergoing reorganization at the Deposit Insurance Agency state corporation since 2009. From December 26, 2017, Дом.рф became the 100% shareholder of the bank (until March 2018, the organization was called the Agency for Housing Mortgage Lending) - the state unified institute for development in the housing sector of Russia.

Claims from Tinkoff Bank and Loko-Bank

On April 24, 2018, Tinkoff Bank filed a lawsuit against Asteros for 46.6 million rubles.

The next day - April 25 - a lawsuit for 168.3 million rubles against Asteros and its daughter Kabest came from Loko-Bank.

The reasons for the claims are not known.

Lawsuit from Luzhniki for 937.9 million rubles

On April 10, 2018, as TAdviser found out, the Luzhniki Olympic Complex filed a lawsuit against Asteros for non-fulfillment or improper fulfillment of obligations under contract agreements in the amount of 937.9 million rubles.

Luzhniki has complaints about the work performed by Asteros

True, on April 11, the judge returned the statement of claim. As a rule, this happens due to the fact that documents are submitted with violations, and the return of the application does not prevent the repeated treatment of the same requirement after the elimination of the circumstances that served as the basis for his return.

Projects in the Moscow Luzhniki sports complex are one of the largest in the Asteros portfolio, along with work at the five-star Hyatt Regency Moscow Petrovsky Park hotel and the Dynamo stadium in Petrovsky Park in the capital.

In 2015-2016, contracts for 3 billion rubles were concluded with the state-owned enterprise Bolshaya Sportivnaya Arena Luzhniki at Asteros, and 4.2 billion rubles with Luzhniki Olympic Complex JSC (plaintiff) in 2016-2017.

In particular, Asteros built an integrated security management technical complex for Luzhniki, as well as a data processing center (more).

In total, 21 lawsuits (including those returned from Luzhniki) totaling 1.4 billion rubles were filed and are under consideration against Asteros as of April 13.

New major plaintiff - "Borlas"

On April 2, 2018, as TAdviser found out, the Arbitration Court Moscow received two new lawsuits against Asteros"." The plaintiff was the system integrator Borlas"." The total volume of claims is 92 million. rubles Their essence is not clear, because the texts of the claims have not been published.

Borlas became the second largest counterparty to Asteros. The largest is the Russian People's Bank (252 million rubles).

In total, as of April 4, 18 lawsuits totaling 456 million rubles are being considered against Asteros.

A trial to verify the validity of the bankruptcy claim, which Asteros filed against itself at the end of March, is scheduled for May 28, 2018.

Application to the bankruptcy court of the company

On March 26, 2018, as TAdviser found out, the Arbitration Court Moscow received a statement declaring Asteros JSC bankrupt. The case card on the court's website as of March 28 does not contain information about who the applicant creditors are. Only the debtor is indicated - Asteros - and the judge who is considering the case - L. Kravchuk.

As of the end of March 2018, 16 cases are pending in the courts against Asteros, the total amount of claims for them is 360 million rubles. The largest claims came from the Russian People's Bank (for 189 million and 63 million), the construction company ETS (75.5 million) and the system integrator Complink (15 million).

Asteros was unable to answer TAdviser's questions by the time the material was published, but later reported that the bankruptcy filing was initiated by the company itself.

Due to the fact that satisfaction of the claims of several creditors may lead to the impossibility of fulfilling in full the monetary obligations to other creditors, on March 26, 2018, the management of Asteros JSC filed an application of the debtor, a legal entity, to the arbitration court to declare insolvent (bankrupt)

The company explained to RBC that Asteros historically operates in the "heavy" infrastructure construction market with long stages of implementation and long-term financing. The specifics of the projects, as well as the untimely execution of payments by some customers at the beginning of 2018, caused restrictions on the company's operating activities and created risks of fulfilling obligations, Asteros reported.

The company stressed that the group continues to operate.

Salary delays, layoffs, sale of part of the business

The end of 2017 - the beginning of 2018 is a difficult period for Asteros. The company experienced salary delays, hundreds of employees were laid off or resigned of their own free will, and part of the business passed to another owner.

The crisis coincided with the completion in the fall of 2017 of one of the largest projects in the history of Asteros - the construction of IT and engineering infrastructure and the creation of security systems for the five-star Hyatt Regency Moscow Petrovsky Park hotel.

The budget of the project, which started in early 2015, amounted to more than 5 billion rubles. In total, about 1000 people were involved in it - 350 Asteros employees and about 650 specialists of contractors under the control of Asteros.

When the project was completed, there were no new tasks to load so many people, so they decided not to renew the contracts with people, "one of the former employees of Asteros told TAdviser. - In addition, in 2017 there were delays in salaries. And although in December they paid off everyone, the dissatisfied decided to quit

The interlocutor of TAdviser explains the difficulties encountered with the payment of salaries by the fact that in parallel Asteros is conducting several large projects, for which investments and payments to contractors are needed, "and credit money is now expensive."

From the materials on the portal of courts of general jurisdiction of the city of Moscow, it follows that in March 2018, employees of Asteros filed 11 claims against the company to recover unpaid wages.

The company paid for the project at the Hyatt Hotel, but difficulties, according to a TAdviser source, could have arisen with other projects on the territory of the VTB Arena Park quarter - in addition to equipping Hyatt, Asteros is creating infrastructure and a security perimeter around the entire quarter, as well as at specific facilities, in particular, at the Dynamo stadium.

Mega-projects in the city quarter "VTB Arena Park" shook "Asteros" (photo - aeroport.info)

According to another TAdviser interlocutor familiar with the activities of Asteros, about 200 people left the company in late 2017 - early 2018, and now a change of ownership is being discussed.

Asteros could not answer TAdviser's questions. A former employee of Asteros doubts that the company will be sold in its entirety, but does not exclude that teams that left it can sell themselves as business units.

At the same time, part of the Asteros group, as TAdviser found out, has already changed its owner. We are talking about companies operating under the Atriniti brand, where in 2015 consulting, implementation and service subsidiaries of Asteros were allocated.

From November-December 2017, Atriniti Consulting, Atriniti Labs and Atriniti Service transferred to Derzhava Finance, a company owned by the small Moscow bank Derzhava, specializing in providing bank guarantees and securities transactions.

This information is confirmed in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and in the list of affiliates of Derzhava Bank dated December 31, 2017.

The bank was unable to answer TAdviser's questions about the acquisition objectives of Atriniti. One of the top managers of Atriniti confirmed to TAdviser that the company is no longer affiliated with Asteros.

In 2016, three legal entities of Atriniti were able to receive revenue in the amount of 820 million rubles. The revenue of the entire Asteros group was then 21.4 billion rubles.

Key activities of Asteros for 2018:

• Engineering Systems and Construction
• IT infrastructure
• Comprehensive Security Systems
• Consulting and IT services

The Group implements projects throughout Russia and abroad.

2017

Asteros recorded a billion-dollar loss

According to the database "Kontur. Focus," published in July 2018, the head legal entity "Asteros" - JSC "Asteros" - completed 2017 with a large loss: the company went into a "minus" of 1.14 billion rubles against a profit of 269 million rubles a year earlier. At the same time, the revenue of this legal entity increased by 5% - from 10.5 billion rubles to 11.1 billion rubles.

The company could not comment on the financial results of TAdviser. Earlier, throughout the group of companies, Asteros provided TAdviser with data on revenue for 2016 in the amount of 21.4 billion rubles.

In 2017, the company entered into 32 government contracts totaling about 1.6 billion rubles. The largest of them were contracts with the Luzhniki sports complex for amounts of 403 and 196 million rubles.

The first included the construction of temporary buildings and auxiliary use as part of the preparation and holding of the World Cup, as well as a remote point for inspecting goods and transport and a point for registering freight transport. The second contract concerned the supply of start-up and service packages to ensure the functioning of the IT infrastructure in the main cash pavilions of Luzhniki.

In 2017, Asteros became unprofitable "(photo - weblancer.net)"

As of the end of 2017, Asteros accounts payable amounted to 10.4 billion rubles, receivables - 7.8 billion rubles.

In 2017, the company began to receive lawsuits demanding large payments in the categories of cases of improper fulfillment of obligations under supply and contract agreements. In 2018, the "flurry" of claims intensified, claims from creditors were added. As of mid-2018, the total amount of plaintiffs' financial claims against Asteros is about 5.4 billion rubles.

VTB United League support

Group Asteros"" for the sixth year in a row supports the VTB VTB^[12] and helps develop professional Russian and international basketball teams. The regular season of the 2017/18 season started on October 5, 2017 and will end on May 12, 2018.

VTB United League was created with the aim of uniting the leading clubs in Russia and Eastern Europe, providing opportunities for the exchange of experience and popularization of basketball in our country. Asteros has been supporting the league since 2011. The choice of a facility for sponsorship assistance was not accidental: many employees and executives of the company were fond of basketball and remain its loyal fans.

In addition to supporting professional teams, Asteros pays special attention to the development of youth and college basketball. Five years ago, the group became a technology partner and then general sponsor of the International Collegiate Basketball League. In addition, Asteros is a partner of charity basketball matches, the organizer of which was traditionally the Step Together Foundation Gosha Kutsenko.

Withdrawal from the Ukrainian market

On May 15, 2017, an expanded list of Russian and Ukrainian companies was published, as well as individuals against whom sanctions were imposed by the decree of the President of Ukraine, implying various kinds of restrictions, namely: entry into the country, a ban on economic activities and property management in Ukraine and others. Among the companies subject to the ban of the Ukrainian authorities was Asteros Ukraine.

The Russian group "Asteros" in response to this step stated the following:

In 2008, Dialogue Kyiv, a large Ukrainian integrator that continued to work on the local market under the Asteros Ukraine brand, became part of the Asteros group. In 2014, due to complicated market relations between the countries, the shareholders of the Asteros group decided to ensure the full legal, commercial and operational independence of Asteros Ukraine. This step was dictated by the desire to minimize the risks associated with the politicization of the Ukrainian market, to enable the company's management to independently develop the Asteros Ukraine business, ensuring the fulfillment of all obligations to local customers and partners, as well as save jobs for the company's employees. Thus, for about 3 years, the Asteros group (Asteros JSC) has not conducted a joint business and does not carry out any project activities on a partnership or other basis with Asteros Ukraine. We emphasize that Asteros Ukraine is an independent legal entity that at the moment is no longer related to the legal entity of Asteros JSC and is not connected with it by a single management, operational, production or other corporate processes. Despite the difficult situation from the point of view of forecasting and planning of further development scenarios caused by the imposition of sanctions, we express our hope for an early stabilization of working conditions for Ukrainian companies legitimately operating in the local market and having a significant pool of clients from among the leading companies of Ukraine

Green building

In the spring of 2017, the Asteros Group confirmed its intention to participate in the promotion of the concept of eco-building in Russia as a member of the Russian Green Building Council/RuGBC. The company acts as a general contractor in the construction of infrastructure of buildings and structures, offering comprehensive turnkey solutions, including using energy-efficient technologies. The company has dozens of unique facilities for our country, including offices, airports, hotel complexes, sports infrastructure facilities.

Revenue growth - 12%

In 2016, Asteros's revenue amounted to 21.414 billion rubles, an increase of 12% compared to 2015. In the ranking "TAdviser100: The largest IT companies in Russia" at the end of 2016, the company took 14th place.

2015

10 335 mQ - Asteros office in Comcity business park (New Moscow)

The Asteros group of companies became the 4th tenant of the Comcity office park along with OJSC Rostelecom, Group of company Systematica Systematics and Oracle. The lease agreement was concluded in early 2015 and is designed for 15 years. The move of Asteros to the Comcity office center, managed by PPF Real Estate Russia, was implemented within one month. Today, all divisions and subsidiaries of Asteros, previously located in different parts of Moscow, are located here.

"Asteros" occupies the A5 hull on the territory of Comcity. The open office concept implemented by the company allows you to use the space as efficiently as possible both for work and for communication with partners and colleagues. The new "house" is designed with the participation of leading Asteros specialists and meets the high requirements for engineering systems, IT and telecommunications infrastructure. Thus, the integrator designed and implemented uninterrupted power supply, cold supply, security television, security alarm, fire extinguishing, SPDS, MCDS, SCS, etc. The productivity of the corporate network in the new office has been increased by 10 times, high-speed Internet access has been provided, and a high-density Wi-Fi network has been deployed. In total, about 1000 automated workplaces have been prepared, including mobile ones. In the near future, Asteros will complete the construction of its own machine room, equipped with all the necessary engineering and IT infrastructure, as well as security systems.

Comcity is designed with modern technological approaches and energy efficient solutions in mind. The facades of the buildings meet increased thermotechnical and light-transmitting characteristics; during construction, so-called cooling beams were used for an effective ventilation system without drafts, as well as natural cold storage facilities. Special attention at Comcity is paid to modern eco-standards, such as the use of "gray" (rainwater) water in order to save money, as well as "green" elevators that can return energy for reuse in the same technological process (recovery). Comcity is located on the first line of the Kyiv highway near the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD), 350 meters from the Rumyantsevo metro station under construction. Comcity has a developed infrastructure, including a shopping gallery, restaurants and cafes, consumer service points, underground parking. In the future, a fitness center and a hotel complex will open here.

Creation of "Atriniti"

In 2015, a new brand Atriniti"" was created on the Russian market, which implements comprehensive projects to ensure the continuous information exchange of enterprises. Atriniti includes the companies LLC, Asteros Consulting LLC KABEST, LLC Asteros Service, LLC Asteros Labs, LLC Navigation Systems-Service.

Read more about the company and its history here: Atriniti

Some performance indicators

Revenue from projects for the construction of engineering infrastructure and security systems for objects in 2015 in Asteros amounted to 6.9 billion rubles, including VAT.

In other CNews ratings for IT and engineering infrastructure, according to the results of 2015, Asteros takes at least 5th place:

• № 2 integrator for the construction of IT infrastructure of facilities with revenue of 14 billion rubles from the implementation of complex projects
• No. 5 supplier in the field of comprehensive data center infrastructure construction projects (with revenue of 3.4 billion rubles)
• No. 5 system integrator of Russia with revenue of 15.3 billion rubles.

2014: Revenue growth to RUB 20.1 billion

Total revenue increased by 2% and amounted to 20.1 billion rubles. The key business areas of the Asteros group slowed down the dynamics of 2013, but mainly maintained a positive trend. Revenue in engineering and IT infrastructure grew by 1.7%. The IT services segment grew by 6.2%, with IT consulting reaching double-digit growth rates of 17.8%. The same indicator in the direction of system integration reached 6.3%.

The share of IT services, which crossed the 50% threshold in 2013, still dominates the Asteros revenue structure and is 52.8% compared to 50.7% in 2012. The expected changes occurred in terms of the supply business: in terms of the volume accounted for by the software, Asteros records a decrease of 17.4%, while the supply of equipment increased by 1.5%.

According to the results of 2014, in the industry structure of Asteros revenue, the top most dynamically developing areas included:

• construction and real estate - growth of almost 160%
• oil and gas sector - 106.6%.

in the shared section, the largest steel for Asteros:

• banks and financial groups - 25.6%,
• telecommunications - 24%,
• transport industry - 14.5
• public sector - 10.4%.

Yuri Byakov, Chairman of the Board of the Asteros Group, noted:

The economic downturn, intensified by geopolitical risks, could not but affect the IT-Business: trade restrictions and related currency jumps led to commercial consequences for the entire IT market. If at the beginning of the year we set ourselves the task of increasing growth dynamics, then after a few months the key task was not to worsen last year's financial indicators and maintain volumes. And I am glad that we managed to cope, regroup in time, maintain partnerships and fulfill our obligations to customers. I think that 2015 will be largely decisive for market conditions and further ways of developing the IT-Business: success will be for those who are ready to reduce costs, respond flexibly to new business requirements and be ready for changes

2013

Results of the year

According to the results of the 2013 financial year, announced in July 2014 goals, the revenue of the Asteros group increased by 3%, as noted in the company itself - primarily due to projects in commercial real estate, construction and the public sector.

Still, half of Asteros's revenue was revenues from IT services: 51% versus 49% in 2012. In annual comparison, the area of ​ ​ IT services, which includes integration, IT consulting and support, has grown by 6.6%. Growth dynamics across the system integration segment slowed down slightly to 7.1% versus 11.3% in 2013. Among certain areas, the greatest growth was shown by integrated security (+ 38%).

The company earned 4.47% more on engineering infrastructure than a year earlier, and 3% more on IT infrastructure. As Yuri Byakov, chairman of the board of directors of Asteros, commented, a tilt towards "heavy" infrastructure projects actually turned the group into a multidisciplinary holding carrying out turnkey projects in the aviation, sports industries, in the office real estate sector, in the cultural and educational spheres.

Among the major infrastructure projects of 2013, it is worth noting first of all those that were carried out in preparation for the XXII Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games 2014: the creation of low-current systems and security systems for the Olympic Village, the construction of infrastructure for the VIP terminal of Sochi Airport, etc. In parallel, the company completed a number of projects for the design and implementation of infrastructure in the offices of Russian Helicopters, A.N.D. Corporation, RusHydro, VTB, Mosimushchestvo and others. In the same row - the continuation of work on the infrastructure of VTB Arena Park.

The main changes at Asteros occurred in the industry slice. For the first time, the group's revenue from projects in the public sector showed an increase of 62.9%. No less rapid dynamics was demonstrated by the direction of commercial real estate and construction (66%).

In 2013, companies from financial (25.7%), telecommunications (24%) and transport (15.5%) industries traditionally led in shares in the Asteros client portfolio. At the same time, the share of the public sector for the first time amounted to 11.7%. The remaining shares fell mainly on the oil and gas, energy and industrial industries.

Asteros revenue in the field of creating an integrated infrastructure and security systems amounted to 394 million rubles, excluding VAT.

In 2013, the Group continued to diversify its business and increase its competencies in new areas of activity. Thus, in Asteros, a niche examination was created related to the integration of sports, concert and stage technologies, including systems for providing sports events, stage mechanics systems for stationary and mobile venues. In addition, in order to strengthen its position in the integrated security market, the company attracted a unique team of specialists with competencies in the field of anti-terrorist protection of facilities of any purpose. As a result, Asteros managed to create a rare expertise on the introduction of highly intelligent solutions to ensure comprehensive protection of objects, implying technical means of inspection, systems for detecting narcotic and explosive substances, psychological testing, as well as complexes of medical and biological control, monitoring and intelligence.

A number of major projects marked the year 2013 for Asteros. Consulting Among them is the largest industry management project IT infrastructure in the holding of Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant OJSC (NMLK group). A team of 30 qualified specialists implemented a unique implementation of a complex of systems for the Russian market Microsoft System Center and created a single private cloud infrastructure, the users of which are 18,000 employees NLMK in Revda and Lipetsk. To Moscow A large-scale project to create an information system for managing investment activities in the form of capital investments was implemented at RusHydro: it covered more than 60 entities of the holding throughout. In Russia addition, the Asteros consultants independently deployed the system ERP at three production sites, logistics mini-bases and in the central trading house of the Ostankino meat processing plant. As a result of the project, operational management of sales, finance, inventory, logistics, as well as analytical reporting were automated.

Conflict with St. Petersburg IT Committee

In the spring of 2013, the Committee on Informatization and Communications of St. Petersburg demanded that Asteros pay him about 2.7 million rubles through the court. for a formal delay in the delivery of software in favor of a third party. Following the consideration of the case in June 2013, the court ordered the company to pay the committee an amount significantly less than the requested amount - 600 thousand rubles (Details).

Asteros has a personnel appetite

As part of the recruitment campaign launched in early 2013, Asteros hired about 200 new employees of various profiles, and by the end of the year plans to hire at least 200-250 more people, the company said in July 2013.

The main focus for Asteros in 2013 is represented by specialists in the field of engineering and IT infrastructure, and the highest priority remains with the chief project engineers with many years of experience in this market, as well as system architects and designers of various profiles, the company told TAdviser.

According to representatives of Asteros, by mid-2013, the level of contracting exceeds all the indicators that the company has ever achieved, while not only the number of projects in implementation is growing, but also the level of their complexity.

The qualification for the project is $5 million and $50 million significantly different. The change of managers, senior engineering staff, system architects is aimed precisely at ensuring that the company is able to fulfill the pool of tasks assigned to it, both from a resource and organizational and managerial point of view, "said TAdviser in Asteros

Engineering in Asteros is called the most problematic area in the IT personnel market: "we are actively working out all the resources available for search, as well as attracting personnel agencies to work, we have a large base of candidates within the company, and, nevertheless, we definitely feel that we have almost" washed "the market in these areas

The company added that they mainly close positions in their own recruiting campaigns. There were no cases of large teams of specialists moving to the company - from 10 people and above - to Asteros, but they noted that small transitions, as well as the return of employees, took place.

The company began active hiring in 2012, after the adoption of a new group development strategy, according to which Asteros focuses on the implementation of long-term complex projects related to the construction of engineering and IT infrastructure of stadiums, airports, offices, cultural and educational facilities. Then Asteros focused, first of all, on strengthening the direction of engineering, in particular, the project bureau. By the end of 2012, the number of its employees exceeded 200 people.

The department of anti-terrorist projects appeared in "Asteros"

In August 2013, Asteros announced the formation of a separate direction for integrated security and anti-terrorist protection systems within the company. Vladimir Shelepov was appointed Director for its strategic development .

As TAdviser explained in the company, the new direction is a logical transformation and expansion of the practice of "physical security," which at the end of 2012 was integrated into the Asteros Engineering and IT Infrastructure business unit (previously managed by Kabest).

In 2013, with the growth of projects in this area, their significance, complexity and scale, the need to enlarge it became obvious, they say in Asteros. It is planned to expand the practice of integrated security and anti-terrorist protection by involving process engineers, system architects and security consultants.

The company notes that they see serious potential in the development of this area in the future, since today most of the large sports, cultural facilities, social complexes are equipped with technical security tools, often managed separately and not integrated into a single integrated infrastructure, which obviously complicates security control.

In addition, in most cities, programs are being implemented to ensure the protection of the population from various possible threats, terrorist acts, emergencies, accidents, crime, etc. Such programs are beginning to be actively implemented in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Serpukhov, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Rostov-on-Don and other cities of Russia, they add to Asteros. - These programs are initiated by the governors of the region, mayors of cities. And, as you know, the safety of the population, the provision of anti-terrorist protection provide for the introduction of a whole range of measures and technical means. To implement such projects, you need a strong and effective team of specialists

As examples of the largest integrated security projects implemented by Asteros, the company cited Safe Sochi, Khabarovsk Airport and Novosibirsk Metro.

2012: Group Restructuring

The management of the Asteros system integrator decided to restructure the business. Upon its completion, the group was supposed to consist of four independent business units under a common management center, the company told CNews in December 2012.

The company's fiscal year begins in April. Over the past three quarters, more than 300 new employees have been admitted to the staff, the integrator told CNews. In the ranking of CNews100 The largest IT companies in Russia 2012 Asteros is in 14th place with more than 1,500 employees and revenue for 2011 over 17.2 billion rubles. Among the newly hired there are also top managers.

As CNews has already written, the integrator is distinguished by an extravagant approach in the selection of managers. In addition to Mikhail Ehrenburg, who at one time became president in less than 30 years, the chairman of the board of directors of the group Lev Nikolau stands out, in parallel with his work in the IT company, he produced the films "Love in the City" and "Pyramid." Also among the managers of the company were the champion of Russia in mountaineering and a professional parachute athlete.

As part of the implementation of the new business development strategy, Asteros strengthened its top management team through a number of appointments within the company and the arrival of new managers. Thus, Alexander Krasovsky took the position of managing partner responsible for the development of the Asteros group business in Europe. Previously, he served as vice president of sales at SITRONICS. Andrey Polonsky, who was previously responsible for strategic and operational sales management at SITRONICS, became vice president for strategy and corporate development of the Asteros group. Ilya Slutsky (ex-president, co-owner and member of the board of directors of the Media Arts Advertising Group) as managing partner headed Asteros Consulting.

The Vice President for Human Resources is now Irina Smolyakova (formerly Vice President of the Media Arts Group for Human Resources and Corporate Development). Ilya Kashparov also joined the company, who became the head of the directorate for business administration (formerly the director for business administration at the largest publishing house in Russia, Eksmo). Valery Zaichenko, who has many years of experience in leadership positions in companies such as Deloitte & Touche, Cisco Systems, Gartner Consulting, FORBIS Consult, headed the application business directorate.

Under the leadership of Irina Smolyakova, an active recruiting campaign was carried out from April to November. As a result, over 300 engineers, system architects and designers, consultants, and information security specialists were admitted to various Asteros divisions. In addition, the project management of the Asteros group was created, which is engaged in the integrated design of the engineering and IT infrastructure of objects for various purposes.

An important strategic step of the Asteros group was the formation of four full-fledged business units with full financial responsibility and a single control center. Among them are Asteros Engineering and IT Infrastructure, led by Andrei Cheremnykh, who combines the post of group president and head of a key business unit. Asteros Consulting, led by Ilya Slutsky, Asteros Service, led by Mikhail Ehrenburg (formerly the president of the group) and Asteros Information Security, managed by Ivan Burdelo, were also formed.

For the final formation of the last business unit, Asteros' stake in KABEST, which develops the security direction, was brought to 100% by buying back the remaining 15% of the shares. At the same time, the direction of physical security of objects is integrated into the Asteros Engineering and IT Infrastructure business unit. The practice of providing centralized management of user identification tools (IDM) is transferred from Asteros Consulting to Asteros Information Security.

At the end of 2012, Asteros's revenue amounted to 19.2 billion rubles, an increase of 11%. Compared to the previous reporting period, its growth rate decreased fivefold - according to the results of 2011, the company's turnover increased by 54%. On average, over the past five years, Asteros revenue has grown by an average of 31% annually.

The external reasons for the decline in revenue growth at Asteros are associated with the general slowdown in the Russian ICT market in 2012, the company explained to TAdviser, and the internal ones - with a large-scale transformation in the company, which caused a number of internal transformations initiated last year. In particular, a new development strategy was adopted, according to which the main focus of the company is long-term integrated engineering projects, characterized by a long sales cycle.

A number of such projects started last year, but for obvious reasons we will see the return on them much later, "the company says.

In addition, within the framework of the designated reorganization, 4 independent business units were allocated in the company, the structure and processes in which were built until the end of the fiscal year, some of which are still underway, are added to Asteros.

The best growth in 2012 was shown by such areas of business as engineering and IT infrastructure - 12.3% and IT outsourcing - 12.2%. The direction of information security increased by 6.4%, the volume of IT consulting - by 3.8%. The bulk of Asteros's customers were companies from the financial (25.6%), telecommunications (24.5%), transport (15.3%) and energy (10.3%) industries.

We add that the Asteros group took the first line of the CNews Analytics rating among the largest IT suppliers for the aviation industry. According to analysts, the total revenue of Asteros in this segment amounted to 1,704,416 thousand rubles in 2012. Revenue growth from this area amounted to 39% by 2011.

Among the company's new major contracts over the past year were the reconstruction and integrated development of the territory of the Moscow Dynamo stadium and the adjacent commercial zone, the installation of low-current systems in the landing gallery and the introduction of a complex of VIP terminal engineering systems at Sochi airport, as well as a project to create engineering and IT infrastructure Sochi Olympic Village.

Asteros notes that classical system integration, in the paradigm of which the company has developed for many years, is "gradually becoming close" for it.

Our focus is large-scale long-term turnkey projects related to the creation of security systems, engineering, telecommunications and IT infrastructure for various purposes. Among them are airports, stadiums, hotels, offices, educational and cultural institutions, - says the president of Asteros Andrei Cheremnykh. - Effectively manage such projects, developing complementary competencies and using the experience already gained - these are the priorities of Asteros in the long term

At this time, Asteros is the general contractor in the implementation of large-scale turnkey infrastructure and engineering projects. The group has innovative and comprehensive projects for the construction of the IT infrastructure of VTB's office in the Federation Tower, the creation of turnkey infrastructure at Sochi International Airport, the reconstruction of the State Theater of Nations, the implementation of the Safe City project in Sochi and other significant national projects.

2011

Agreements with Huawei and Apple

In May 2011, Asteros received evidence from a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for the construction and design of unique, technically complex and dangerous facilities. Obtaining evidence was a continuation of the Asteros strategy for the development of the infrastructure business.

On July 26, 2011, a partnership agreement was concluded with Huawei, a developer of solutions for communication networks. The combination of advanced Huawei technologies and Asteros expertise in the telecommunications sector will allow Russian companies to offer qualitatively new services in the construction of broadband and intelligent communication networks.

In September 2011, Apple's Authorized System Intergrator status was announced. Asteros will provide services to corporate customers to introduce Apple technologies into the IT landscape and supply the entire line of Apple computer equipment, including iPad tablets. As an authorized system integrator for Apple, Asteros will provide customers with the full range of services - from introducing Apple devices into the corporate IT environment to developing applications and technical support.

Repayment of IFC loan

The head of Asteros, Yuri Byakov, told TAdviser that in 2011 the company fully repaid all loans from IFC and no longer has any obligations to it.

In 2009, IFS Russia & CIS bought a 2.5% stake in Asteros Group of Companies. The remaining 97.5% of Asteros shares after the transaction were owned by the Cypriot offshore, whose shareholders were Yuri Byakov (more than 90%) and top managers of the company (the remaining less than 10%).

IFC received a warrant (a security that gives the right to repurchase shares at the agreed price) to increase its stake to 12%, which it could (but is not obliged to) use from July 2011 until July 2016. When Asteros received a loan under the terms of the agreement, part of the company's shares acted to ensure its return. Of these, IFC could increase its share.

Financial results of the year: Growth of 54% to 17.3 billion rubles

The total revenue of the Asteros group in fiscal 2011 amounted to about 17.3 billion rubles. Compared to last financial year, business growth was 54%. The share of IT services in the group's turnover structure is 49%. Hardware and software segments account for 39% and 12% of Asteros' total revenue, respectively.

According to the IDC study "Competitive Profiles and Analysis of Leading IT Services Players in Russia, 2012," the Russian IT services market in 2011 increased by 27.2% and reached a value of $5.9 billion. The system integration segment (18.8%) continues to be the leader in the market structure, followed by consulting and application implementation (15.7%) and custom software development (11.4%). In 2011, Asteros strengthened its position in the IT services market. The group entered the top ten players, rising in the ranking immediately by 5 positions and taking 7th place. In addition, Asteros holds 2nd place in the system integration segment for the third year in a row. The group's revenue in this area in fiscal year 2011 reached $158.59 million, the market share grew by 3.3% and amounted to 12.7%.

In the segment of network infrastructure outsourcing and user support, Asteros took 6th place, increasing market share by 0.5% compared to last year (4.7% versus 4.2%).

Among the strengths of the Asteros group, IDC analysts noted rapid revenue growth in the direction of IT services and a diversified portfolio of customers. The leading industries were banks (more than 25%), telecommunications (24%) and transport (13%) companies. The largest projects were carried out by Asteros specialists for such customers as RusHydro, MegaFon, Novosibirsk Metro, State Theater of Nations, Sochi City Administration, Tinkoff Credit Systems Bank and a number of other organizations.

Asteros Consulting, two years after its formation, has taken a strong position in the consulting and business application market. Currently, the company's share in the group's turnover structure is 18%. In 2011, Asteros Labs was formed as a group structure, which develops a family of IT products for application integration. The company became a resident of the Skolkovo innovation center and received a grant of 90 million rubles for the development of a pool of IT products.

The company "Kabest" was the first in Russia to receive a certificate of accreditation in the field of personal data (PD) from Roskomnadzor. This confirms the right of KABEST to participate in inspections on supervision and control over compliance with the requirements of the legislation in the field of PD protection as an expert organization. In September 2011, Asteros topped the list of the largest players in the field of information security services according to the analytical agency IDC. The group's turnover in this area reached $28.4 million, and the market share was 9.1%.

According to IDC Competitive Profiles and Analysis of Leading IT Services Players in Russia, 2011, the IT services market in Russia grew by almost 30% in 2010 and amounted to $4.7 billion. The Asteros group has improved its position in the Russian IT market. The company entered the Top 10 largest companies in IT services (excluding revenues from offshore development services).

The system integration segment remains the largest in the structure of the Russian IT services market. Asteros ranks 2nd in this sector. Thus, the company not only holds its position in system integration for the second year in a row, but also strengthens it - compared to 2009, the share of Asteros increased from 9.1% to 9.4% in 2010. The market share of Asteros in this direction is 4.2%.

2010

Financial results of the year: Growth of 36% to 11.18 billion rubles

According to the results of the 2010 financial year, Asteros business grew by 36% and reached a turnover of 11.18 billion rubles^[13].

The following activities of Asteros became champions of growth:

• IT outsourcing + 77%
• Safety systems + 52%
• Business Application Implementation and IT Consulting + 42%
• Engineering and IT infrastructure + 30%

The share of IT services in the group's turnover structure increased to 48%. Hardware and software segments account for 40% and 12% of Asteros' total revenue, respectively.

Projects in the energy industry have almost tripled Asteros "business in the industry. Significant growth is noted in the field of work with industrial enterprises (+ 91%) and transport (+ 51%).

Yuri Byakov buys out Detroit Investment stake

Detroit Investment (DI) fully withdrew from the capital of the IT company Asteros"," selling its stake to the main shareholder of the integrator. Yuri Byakov DI acquired 25% of Asteros in 2006 for $10 million, thus valuing the entire company at $40 million. According to Neil Verishchagin, the fund sold its shares in parts - Yuri Byakov bought out the first 7% in April 2009, and the remaining 17.5% in the fall of 2010. They did not disclose the details of the transaction in the fund and in Asteros. According to Neil Verishchagin, the return on investment (IRR, internal rate of return) for the fund was above the IT industry average. At the same time, he estimates the average value at the level of 25-27% per year.

A branch has been opened in Novosibirsk. Investments in the opening of the Siberian branch amounted to more than 15 million rubles. According to forecasts, the total revenue of the branch in 2015 should amount to 1.2 billion rubles. More than 200 Asteros employees work in Siberia.

In October, a loan of 500 million rubles was announced. The credit line will be aimed at developing the company's business, including financing client projects. A loan of 500 million rubles was provided by Zenit Bank for a period of up to 1 year. A multi-currency loan can be provided both in US dollars and in rubles. The signing of the loan agreement was preceded by a comprehensive assessment by the bank of the financial condition and creditworthiness of Asteros. The guarantee of timely return of funds is the financial stability of the company and the growth of total revenue, which in the crisis year 2009 amounted to 10%.

Strengthening the market position, Asteros opens the practice of implementing business applications SAP, Oracle and 1C, and also launches its own commercial data center. The ambitious goals of the company to enter the top ten largest players in the Russian IT market have been achieved.

Asteros Group becomes the second largest player in the segment of system integration of the Russian IT services market according to IDC.

2009: IFC buys back 2.5% stake in company

According to the results of the 2009 financial year Asteros, the share of revenue from projects in banks is the largest in the turnover of the IT group and amounts to 29%. Despite the difficult situation in 2009 in the banking sector, this direction of business "Asteros" was the fastest growing: the growth dynamics of this segment amounted to 87%. Asteros clients are such large Russian banks as VTB, Sberbank of the Russian Federation, Promsvyazbank, Rosbank and many others.

The share of revenue from system integration services in 2009 amounted to 20.4%. Currently (2010), IT services account for about 40% of the group's turnover.

In connection with the growth of business [1] , Mikhail Ehrenburg took over as president of Asteros . Yuri Byakov, who headed the business since 2004, moved to the position of vice president for work with strategic clients.

In December 2009, IFC entered the share capital of the Asteros group, buying back 2.5% of the shares for $2.5 million. Thus, the total value of the company was estimated at 2.5 times higher than in 2006 - at $100 million. In addition, IFC provided a long-term loan totaling $20 million.

This transaction was the first for IFC in the IT industry in Eastern Europe after the crisis in 2008 and one of the largest in the Russian ICT sector.

Asteros launches a number of its own products on the market:

• Asteros Contact is an integration solution for client services and contact centers
• Asteros.EDU - Distance Learning System
• Asteros Portal - a line of products for managing corporate business processes, information and knowledge

According to IDC, Asteros is one of the top 5 leading companies in the segment of system integration of the Russian IT services market.

In the CNews rating, the company ranks 1st in the IT in Aviation nomination.

2008

Takeover of Avertagroup

In March 2008, BBC acquired a 100% stake in Avertagroup, an expert in electronic document management. Under the terms of the deal, the former owners of Avertagroup, Liubov Petrova and Roman Nikitin, continued to work as part of BBC as director of the center for business design and development of project programs and director of the information management systems department.

The merger of BBC and Step Logic did not take place

In June 2008, it became known that the shareholders of BBC and Step Logic refused the merger announced in the fall of 2007. The companies continued to operate as independent structures. According to experts, integrators could not agree on the price. It is also possible that the deal was hampered by a major difference in corporate cultures between the two companies.

So, in September 2007, BBC announced the start of the merger procedure with Step Logic. It was planned that the merger would be completed in the first quarter of 2008. For its implementation, a committee was created under the leadership of co-owners of BBC and Step Logic - Yuri Byakov and Yury Kantarovsky. However, the merger of the companies did not take place.

Having explored the potential opportunities that the deal opens up, we came to the conclusion that it is more comfortable for us to stay alone, "Alexander Saraev, General Director of BBC, told CNews. - This is a decision of shareholders in its pure form. They made the decision that the merger was necessary. They also decided that the deal must be stopped and the companies should be left independent "

The Asteros group of companies has been created

The achievement of large-scale goals presented new requirements for the brand. In this regard, it was decided to bring to the market a new brand - the Asteros group. So the Asteros group appeared on the IT market - the carrier of the BBC examination. The structure of the Asteros group also includes the companies Dialog Kiev, Avertagroup and Kabest.

Translated from Greek, the word "Asteros" means "star." Another version of the "decryption" of the name is "Asteros" - a name formed from the initial letters of the words "Automated Systems and Technologies of Russia." As the president of Asteros Yuri Byakov told CNews, the idea of ​ ​ introducing a new brand has been ripening in BBC for about a year and a half, and legal formalities and other work with the already finished brand took 3.5 months. Later, since the beginning of 2011, the company changed its own positioning and abandoned the decoding of its name as an abbreviation.

The branding budget of the new group, according to Sergei Karas, vice president for strategic development of Asteros, amounted to about $2 million. At the same time, the decision to withdraw the brand, and its implementation by 90% fell on the company itself. After the withdrawal of the new brand, the BBC brand faded into the background.

Start of projects:

• Creation of turnkey infrastructure of Sochi International Airport
• Creation of IT infrastructure of Aeroflot's new office with 3,000 jobs
• Modernization of MegaFon contact centers

Work continues on long-term large-scale projects such as:

• Construction of IT infrastructure in the Federation Tower for VTB
• Creation of a specialized customs automation system in [[Federal Customs Service 'Federal Customs Service] of Russia
• Implementation of IT support system at VimpelCom
• Work within the framework of a comprehensive project at Sheremetyevo Airport.

The group's turnover for fiscal year 2008 reached 7.45 billion rubles and increased by 49.8%, while the share of IT services in it is about 37%.

The largest growth in 2008 among Asteros was shown by the directions of IT infrastructure (the introduction of telecommunications solutions), consulting and security.

• IT infrastructure and engineering systems - 71% of Asteros turnover
• Safety systems - 12%
• IT Consulting and Business Application Implementation - 10%
• IT outsourcing and service - 7%

The structure of turnover by industry is as follows:

• The share of telecommunications is 33%
• Transport - 20%
• Financial sector and public sector - 13% each
• Industry - 6%
• Power - 5%.

However, Asteros failed to achieve the forecast indicators announced in December 2008, when the IT service provider BBC and its subsidiaries were merged under the new brand. It was expected that the group's turnover will amount to about 9.5 billion rubles, growth compared to 2007 - more than 100%, the share of IT services - 40%.

In an interview, CNews Vereshchagin Neal Asteros' CFO explained the group's lower-than-expected results by saying that some of the revenue from long-term contracts due to construction delays moved to fiscal year 2009.

"We continue to work on these contracts, so part of the proceeds from them will go to us" plus "for the next year," says Vereshchagin.

It is too early to give forecasts for fiscal year 2009, he emphasizes, however, already now we can say that the group will at least be able to achieve the turnover of 2008 (in dollar terms).

Asteros plans to further increase the service component of the business, as the IT services segment remains the fastest growing IT market sector even in the new economic conditions. "We are also strengthening the team - now is a good time to bring in professionals. And at the same time we are eyeing the market - with an eye to possible M&A deals, "says Yuri Byakov, president of the Asteros group until June 16, 2009.

In the rating "CNews100: the largest IT companies in Russia 2009," Asteros took 22nd place.

The Asteros Group entered the Tor5 suppliers of the Russian system integration market according to IDC estimates for 2008.

A regional office is opening in Krasnodar.

2007

Takeover of Dialog Kiev

On September 20, 2007, at the Radisson SAS Hotel, it was announced that the Dialog Kiev system integrator had joined the BBC group of companies. The merger was carried out by acquiring CJSC BBC 25% of the shares in the authorized capital of the Ukrainian joint venture Dialog Kiev.

Detroit Investment buys 25% of the company for $10 million

The Detroit Investment International Fund became a shareholder of BBC, buying a 25% stake in the company for $10 million, thus valuing the entire company at $40 million.

The total revenue of BBC in 2007 amounted to 4,973,500 thousand rubles, which is 32.7% more than in 2006 at 3,749,040 thousand rubles (according to CNews Analytics).

The company enters the dynamically developing market of neighboring countries - opens a representative office in Astana (Republic of Kazakhstan), and also acquires a share in the authorized capital of the Ukrainian system integrator " Dialog Kiev."

BBC specialists are working on projects to create an IT infrastructure and security systems at TVEL Corporation, build an IT infrastructure and a data processing center in VTB's office - the Federation Tower high-rise building, provide outsourcing services to support the SAN InBev infrastructure, deploy IT systems of the new Sheremetyevo-3 airport, and develop an IT policy for RAO ESR.

An exclusive partnership agreement was concluded with SITA, a company specializing in the development and implementation of IT in the field of civil aviation. The portfolio of cross-industrial solutions is expanding, in which products from VMware and Infowatch appear .

The company has 640 employees.

2002 - 2005: From Hardware Supply to System Integration

According to the results of 2005, the company's turnover reached $66 million.

The company changes its position as a supplier of computer equipment and takes a course towards solving complex IT problems of customers. In this regard, the following areas are highlighted in the company structure:

• implementation of business applications
• delivery of telecommunication solutions
• building corporate information systems
• creation of engineering and technical solutions
• IT Service and Outsourcing

A representative office in St. Petersburg opens. The company continues to work on improving business processes and creates a quality management system.

BBC is developing a line of offers by concluding partnership agreements with global manufacturers - IBM, Oracle, Hitachi Data Systems, APC, Remedy, Citrix, Xerox, Nortel.

The size of the BBC team has grown to 280 employees.

1998-2001: The formation of the BBC company

In 1998, employees of CSS - Computer Support Services joined forces and created BBC. In addition to Yuri Byakov, among them are Alexander Danilin, Evgeny Putsyato and Igor Rigelson. Each of the partners owned 25% of the shares. Pucyato and Rigelson eventually left the company and sold their packages to Byakov. Danilyn (as of February 2011) retained a minority stake and continued to work for the integrator.

According to the results of the first 4 years of operation, the customer base of BBC has 150 companies. The business volume by the end of 2001 amounted to $20 million.

The main business area of ​ ​ the company is the supply of complex solutions in the field of office automation.

The first agreements were signed with world manufacturers of equipment and software - Compaq Computer (today HP), Microsoft, Cisco, Avaya.

The company has completed a number of large-scale projects, the largest of which is the construction of an IT infrastructure in the office of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Links

• Official website of the company "Asteros"
• Asteros Facebook page
• World Bank structure invested in Russian integrator
• Asteros insured trade union liability for $3 million
• A new brand in the IT services market in Russia
• BBC bought Avertagroup
• "Dialog Kiev" entered the group of companies "BBC"
• CNews100: Largest IT companies in Russia
• "BBC" and "Step Logic" teamed up
• "BBC" and "Step Logic": the merger fell apart

Notes