The struggle for Natura Siberia continues: Trubnikov's first wife Irina sealed the production and fights for trademarks, and major players are negotiating the division of the company.
As the correspondent of The Moscow Post in the Moscow Region reports, the hereditary-corporate conflict around the cosmetic company Natura Siberica ("Nature of Saiberic," the brand "Recipes of Grandmother Agafya") has entered a new round. Irina Trubnikova, the first wife of the deceased founder of the company Andrei Trubnikova, arrived and sealed one of the production sites of the structure, located in Dmitrov.
We are talking about the "Dmitrovsky experimental plant of aluminum and combined tape" (DOZAKL). It was at this production site that a fire occurred last year. The energy supply assets of the plant are registered on the structure of the En + holding Oleg Deripaska - En + Recycling LLC. Now this structure is trying to recover 4.1 billion rubles of damage from LLC First Decision (the main legal entity of Nature).
During his lifetime, Andrei Trubnikov, who died in early 2021, was categorically disagree with these requirements. Their satisfaction in full could mean the bankruptcy of the structure, whose assets today are estimated at 3-4 billion rubles.
Now events are developing not in favor of Trubnikov's company and its current owners. Yesterday, the Babushkinsky District Court of Moscow arrested production and packaging machines at the site in Dmitrov. As well as trademarks of the First Solution, including the well-known brands "Recipes of Grandmother Agafya," Organic Shop, "Good Herbs" and "Home Recipes."
At the same time, the court found the culprit of the fire two employees of "Nature," including the driver of the loader, who conducted welding near the place of storage of plastic packaging. This court decision entered into force, but it became known about it only recently, writes Secret of the company. The damage from the fire was estimated at 3.5 billion rubles - the amount is less than Deripaska's structure requires, but also threatening the company with bankruptcy.
Relatives versus
Andrei Trubnikov himself did not live to see the end of the trials, and shortly after his death, a hereditary-corporate conflict began around the structure. Trubnikov has four direct heirs, including the first and last wife Irina and Anastasia. Earlier there were rumors that he wanted to divorce Anastasia, but did not have time to submit documents to the registry office.
Today, Irina Trubnikova, who is considered the most "fighting" of all heirs, owns 40% of First Decision LLC. The son of Irina and Andrei Trubnikov Dmitry - 15% of the company. Andrei Trubnikov himself during his lifetime owned from 55 to 62% in most companies included in Natura Siberia.
The remaining shares belong to other partners of Trubnikov and investors. It is between Trubnikov's heirs, first of all, his first wife Irina, and other shareholders that there is a conflict.
Earlier, notary Aigul Karnaukhova, who conducts the Trubnikov hereditary case, concluded trust management agreements with the heirs. However, at least as of August 18, none of the heirs had yet entered into ownership.
Moreover, the heirs, with the exception of the third, last wife of Trubnikov Anastasia, filed lawsuits against the court, demanding that the decisions of the extraordinary meetings of the LLC participants through which Natura Siberica works be invalidated. And also take interim measures in the form of a ban on amending the constituent documents and information contained in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.
And there is an important point here. The entire corporate-hereditary conflict began with the fact that initially Irina Trubnikova and the second wife of Andrei Oksana (representing the interests of children) advocated that Irina Trubnikova herself become a trustee after the death of the entrepreneur.
Irina Trubnikova does not intend to retreat?
This decision was not supported by the third wife Anastasia, so the notary independently chose the manager. Boris Lyuboshits became the interim independent leader to ensure the safety of assets. Today he is a defendant in the lawsuit of Irina and other relatives. Anastasia, recall, did not sue.
Who is the raider here
The requirements of relatives for the company and Lyuboshitsa have not yet been satisfied. But in the corridors of the company's main office in Novosibirsk, a real confrontation erupted.
The president of the company, appointed by the management, Sergey Builov, canceled the passes to the enterprise to Irina Trubnikova and several other employees loyal to her (it is alleged that only the former). The company hints that previously one of the employees could abuse their powers.
When Trubnikova tried to get into the territory and was not allowed to go, this caused a real scandal. Meanwhile, Trubnikova's motives and former and current employees loyal to her may be prosaic. The fact is that earlier Builov announced his intention to conduct a forge audit of the entire structure.
Forensic - a set of services related to the detection of corporate fraud. That is, the abuses that usually occur on the part of employees, who enjoy the trust of the owners and, as a result, harm to them.
"We are already seeing some signs of abuse of authority by some employees of the company. How many of them were and how it affected the company is not known to anyone, "Sergey Builov quotes Lenta.ru.
Moreover, some Natura employees loyal to Irina in the letter announced the raider seizure of the enterprise. What we are talking about is not really clear, because there were no changes to the statutory documents and the transfer of property rights.
This accusation was answered by Natura Siberica President Sergei Builov. He said that the company's past management prevented all managers appointed in the framework of the hereditary case from accessing it. According to him, the new management was illegally denied access to the office and to any information about the state of affairs in the company. "Who are the raiders here after that?" RBC quoted Buylova as saying.
Given this, Trubnikova's ill-wishers believe that she may specifically try to block the management of the structure by other shareholders.
Today, Irina Trubnikova has already entered the fight for the company's trademarks according to the court decision mentioned above. She forbade LLC First Decision to use the trademarks OU Good Design, terminating the license agreement.
The trademark agreement was concluded between the Estonian company OU Good Design and the maker of cosmetics "Grandma Agafya Recipes." In December 2020, Trubnikov re-registered the trademarks "Recipes of Grandmother Agafya" and Natura Siberica on OU Good Design.
Big players in interest
Meanwhile, Irina Trubnikova may not be an independent figure, and at all do not want to continue the work of the company. Indeed, large entrepreneurs - Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Yevtushenkov - joined the struggle for Trubnikov's inheritance.
Deripaska's interest is clear - he is eager to receive 4.1 billion rubles of damage from the structure for a fire at the plant. Without "understanding" from a large shareholder, litigation can last for years. Meanwhile, the court decision on those responsible for the fire makes the prospect of satisfying the claim very likely.
This means that Trubnikova herself may not get anything at all, like other shareholders. In this situation, it is much better to agree with Deripaska and sell him shares at an acceptable price, and not to be drawn into protracted courts. But for this, first you need to get an inheritance.
Earlier, Forbes wrote that negotiations on the sale of shares with Irina Trubnikova were conducted by AFK Sistema Vladimir Yevtushenkov. However, apparently, they did not agree. Therefore, they say that he could agree with Anastasia, the third wife of Andrei Trubnikov.
In this context, Yevtushenkov is extremely profitable so that Natura does not pay off the Deripaska structure before Sistema buys Anastasia's package. Perhaps this is the reason why Anastasia opposed the appointment of Irina as a trustee of assets, and also did not join the lawsuit of other relatives to the company and Lyuboshits.
Will Deripaska and Yevtushenkov share Natura Siberica?
However, both entrepreneurs can agree with each other. The fact that their structures can negotiate the division of the company with each other was previously written by the same Forbes. The first media to talk about Deripaska's interest in Nature was The Moscow Post.
It is clear that the current management of Nature will not agree with Irina's claims on trademarks, or with the sealing of the production site in Dimitrov, or with the wishes of large businessmen who are ready to almost break the company. This means one thing - the conflict is far from over, and there may be many more unexpected turns in it.