Specialists of Smart-Holding and Amstor Group continue preparation of the retail chain’s stores for reopening.

In most of the stores, IT infrastructure and databases have been restored, goods inventory and assortment replenishment have been made, testing of the sales process in one of Kiev's stores has been successfully completed.

The shopping centre located on Mayorova Street in Kiev, has become a testing platform that made it possible to elaborate a recovery algorithm for all the chain’s stores. It is quite difficult to start up a store from scratch as all the databases were destroyed, IT equipment and all the documentation were taken to an unknown destination by former managers of the retail chain, the Vagorovskiys brothers. In that way, they attempted to hide the scale of their embezzlement and escape responsibility.

So far, it is not possible to name the date when all Amstor shopping centres will be opened because the chain’s operations recovery process is complicated by the fact that a number of persons responsible for material valuables do not come to work as directed by the Vagorovskiys brothers and hide financial and personnel records. In those stores where employees ceased to exercise unlawful instructions of the ex-managers, salaries have started to be paid and inventory process has been arranged. This will make it possible to launch these stores among the first ones. On 19 January, Smart-Holding paid salaries to the staff of Amstor chain’s supermarkets in Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk.

It is to be recalled that on 31 December 2014, armed men blocked the work of a number of Amstor’s stores in Kiev, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Mariupol and other cities. Police arrived to the sites, the work of the supermarkets was recovered, but not for long. Today, the majority of Amstor chain’s stores are not operating.

Smart-Holding, the main shareholder of Amstor, reported that armed men who blocked the stores, were acting on the orders of the retailer’s former manager and minority shareholder Vladimir Vagorovskiy. The ex-manager did not agree with the decision of the principal owners to dismiss him from the management of Amstor Group and does everything to destabilize the work of the shopping centres and hide the volumes of his theft. The results of the audit conducted by the main shareholder revealed Vagorovskiy’s attempts to misappropriate the company as well as to steal funds for his personal enrichment.

The Vagorovskiys currently control the stores located in the territory of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and no proceeds from those stores are transferred to the account of Amstor Group.

Gelabran Real Estate, the shareholder who was one of the founders of Amstor Group (included in the sphere of influence of Eduard Shifrin and Aleksandr Schneider), supported the main shareholder of the group, Smart-Holding, in its efforts to stabilize the work of Amstor retail chain throughout Ukraine. The Company’s statement ran as follows: ‘We condemn the actions of the minority shareholder Vladimir Vagorovskiy and former management represented by Aleksandr Vagorovskiy that led to suspension of the stores’ operation’.

In 2009, Shifrin and Schneider, the majority shareholders of Amstor Group, sold part of their stake to companies associated with Smart-Holding. Their share decreased from 60 to 15%. Smart-Holding became the main shareholder of the retail chain with a 70% stake. Part of the shares was acquired from the minority shareholder of Amstor Group, Vladimir Vagorovskiy. His share in the company decreased from 40 to 15%. According to the shareholders’ decision, until recently Aleksandr and Vladimir Vagorovskiy were engaged in operational management of the retail chain.