On May 14, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal decided to cancel the decision of the first instance on recognizing the transaction for the sale of shares of AS Rus Media JSC (the legal entity of the publisher of the Russian version of Forbes magazine) to venture entrepreneur Magomed Musaev as invalid. The Vedomosti newspaper writes about this.
In August 2018, FAF Media LLC, which owned the Russian version of Forbes, owned by Alexander Fedotov, sold 95 ordinary and five preferred shares of AS Rus Media JSC to M.Musaev. The amount of the transaction was not officially disclosed at that time. A year later, A.Fedotov was declared bankrupt, and since 2021, FAF Media has been undergoing a similar procedure. In the spring of 2022, the bankruptcy trustee of FAF Media LLC, Valentina Chuprinskaya, filed an application to declare the sale and purchase of the Russian Forbes invalid with the Moscow Arbitration Court. According to the plaintiff, the asset was sold below market value.
In August 2022, the court cancelled the sale of the Russian Forbes to Musaev. The decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court then noted that its amount in 2018 amounted to 500 thousand rubles, which is lower than the nominal value of the company's shares – 68.9 million rubles. The contested transaction was made in order to withdraw assets (without losing control over them) and reduce the bankruptcy estate, due to which it is possible to repay creditors' claims, it is indicated in the same document. Appeals against this decision were sent to the court by M.Musaev, A.Fedotov and JSC AS Rus Media. In March 2023, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the court of first instance, recognizing the transaction for the purchase of Forbes by Musaev as valid. A cassation appeal against this decision was filed by LLC "Help" (one of the creditors of JSC "AS Rus Media"). In June 2023, the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District overturned the decision of the Court of Appeal and sent the case for a new hearing.
At a meeting on May 14, 2024, the representative of M. Musayev explained the motives for the entrepreneur's acquisition of shares in a loss-making company by "financial and temporary factors". According to him, at that time, it was more profitable for the businessman "from the point of view of time to buy the company, even if it was unprofitable," than to conclude a new license agreement with the Forbes global office.
More news is on the Telegram channel "Mergers and Acquisitions. AK&M».
