Lukashenko Completes Raider Seizure Of Kommunarka
- 19.07.2025, 11:48
The main share of shares is transferred to the state free of charge.
Shares of confectionery factory "Kommunarka" for almost Br37.5 million are transferred from the ownership of Minsk to the ownership of the Republic of Belarus free of charge. The corresponding government resolution published on the National Legal Internet Portal.
According to the document, 52,577 shares of the joint OJSC "Kommunarka" with a nominal value of 67.77 rubles for a total of 37,448,143.29 rubles are transferred from the ownership of Minsk to the ownership of the Republic of Belarus.
"Accept free of charge until September 1, 2025," reads the decree of the Council of Ministers.
The media specify that it's a share of 88.9% of shares. Thus, the manufacturer actually becomes not Minsk, but the republican enterprise.
The company's revenue last year exceeded Br459 million, while net profit amounted to more than Br9.9 million.
Reminder, "Kommunarka" became a joint-stock company in 1994. The share in the property was received by the employees of the enterprises, they could not sell it - in 1996 a special decree introduced a moratorium on the sale of shares, which were received by members of labor collectives.
In 2008 it was decided to cancel the ban, and from the beginning of 2011 this decision came into force (the process was gradual). At that time, many employees wanted to sell their shares. Minsk City Executive Committee did not want to buy them. The joint-stock company itself bought shares from the employees and sold them to a strategic investor, who wanted to develop it.
American businessman of Belarusian origin Marat Novikov bought 34% of Kommunarka, while the state was left with 27.07%.
In March 2011, a new decree was issued, which gave local executive committees the pre-emptive right to buy shares of once privatized enterprises. Minsk city executive committee, which had previously refused to give up "Kommunarka," changed its mind and even began to sue the employees of the enterprise, who had sold shares to the investor. They asked for "protection" from Alexander Lukashenko. In October 2012, he "protected" them.
Lukashenko came to "Kommunarka" and said that the state was taking it and "Spartak" back into its ownership, because they were "people's and strategic enterprises".
The formal reason for revising the results of privatization was the appeal to the Supreme Economic Court of the State Property Committee in connection with the fact that in the process of privatization illegally underestimated the size of authorized funds and the state received fewer shares than it could, resulting in damage to it. The court satisfied the claims. The state share in Kommunarka was increased to 57%, in Spartak - to 60%. The old management was dismissed and new management was appointed. Marat Novikov was left out of the picture - his property was simply taken away from him. The law enforcers had no claims against him, but the businessman did not return from the USA. Later in an interview, he said that he was sure that if he returned, the claims would be found and he would be put in jail.