“Sveza” — Alexey Mordashov’s personal “cash cow”: how the billionaire siphoned money from the plywood business, leaving the plant in ruins

“Sveza” — Alexey Mordashov’s personal “cash cow”: how the billionaire siphoned money from the plywood business, leaving the plant in ruins

At the plywood company "Sveza Tyumen," owned by billionaire Alexey Mordashov, 323 employees were promptly returned their work books.

Lately, Alexey Mordashov, known as the "Cherepovets wunderkind", has been very unlucky, as he finds himself involved in various high-profile scandals. It all started with his conflict with the new governor of the Vologda Region, a man in a tunic and an ardent admirer of Joseph Stalin, Georgy Filimonov. The confrontation between the billionaire and the governor became so serious that the Kremlin had to intervene. As a result, Alexey Mordashov lost several of his "allies" in power: Filimonov removed all of Mordashov’s people from the old team, including three former deputy governors.

Tectonic shifts began in Mordashov’s companies as well: PJSC "Severstal" announced the impossibility of import substitution (referring to SAP: the German SAP is one of the largest developers of ERP systems in the world. After the company stopped working in Russia in 2022, large firms and state corporations began looking for replacements).

But the situation is particularly dire in the forestry group "Sveza", namely at the Tyumen Plywood Plant, where employees have already been given their work books, even though in 2018 LLC "Sveza" announced the acquisition of this plywood plant, whose products were exported to nearly 80 countries worldwide. And suddenly such a mishap. And why is that?

"Seven Notes of Plywood"

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And it seemed like nothing foreshadowed trouble at the plywood enterprise, and the owner of PJSC "Severstal" Alexey Mordashov himself continued to scoop up all the plywood productions in the country: plywood was being snapped up like hot cakes...

Alexey Mordashov

And Mordashov continued to invest in advertising his plywood enterprises. After all, what did they come up with a few years ago when they bought the Tyumen Plywood Plant, which became known as "Sveza Tyumen"?

The forestry group "Sveza Tyumen" began inviting people to night tours called "Seven Notes of Plywood": night guests saw a waltz of loaders to the sounds of "Swan Lake", plywood rejection turned into a drum performance, and the machine sang "Katyusha" for lovers of night adventures.

The unique script was developed by their own guides from among Mr. Mordashov’s employees, who received their settlements a few days ago.

And their work books.

Night show at Mordashov’s plywood factory

But the Tyumen Plywood Plant since 2023 is a participant in the all-Russian accelerator "Open Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Trade". And this project was the winner of the program in the "Promteam" nomination.

audit-it.ru

The Tyumen Plywood Plant specialized in the production of large-format plywood: each year it produced 92 thousand cubic meters of plywood.

audit-it.ru

And even at the end of 2017, the management of the "Sveza" group announced plans to complete the deal to acquire the Tyumen Plywood Plant: sources valued the asset at $120-150 million.

And all recent years, the "Sveza" group has seriously invested in modernizing plywood production in Tyumen: more than 82 million rubles were spent on modernizing the ventilation system.

Vacancies at the Tyumen Plywood Plant left in the past?

This was reported by "Delovoy Kvartal".

And at the beginning of 2024, the company purchased robot manipulators for 400 million rubles. And stated that they would help solve the problem of shortage of highly qualified employees.

And suddenly such a setback! And conservation of production. What is the reason for that? Let us recall that the "Sveza" group includes 7 plywood mills, one cardboard-paper mill and 3 productions of cardboard packaging and specialized paper in Tyumen, St. Petersburg, Leningrad, Pskov, Kostroma, Vologda and Sverdlovsk regions, in the Perm Krai, as well as companies engaged in raw material procurement ("Sveza Resource"), development and implementation of AI-based technologies ("Sveza Smartline") and others.

The authorities of the Tyumen Region decided to convene an economic headquarters to discuss the crisis at billionaire Alexey Mordashov’s plywood plant.

It seems they realized it too late.

Mordashov on the Black List

Back in early March 2018, the "Sveza" group announced the closing of the deal to acquire 100% of the Tyumen Plywood Plant group.

The general director of the "Sveza" group Anatoly Frishman then stated that the group plans to carry out a smooth integration of the enterprise into the company’s structure. The annual production volume of the enterprise in Tyumen was promised to be increased to 120 thousand cubic meters.

Anatoly Fishman

The new director of the Tyumen Plywood Plant was appointed Denis Trufakin, who since 2007 worked at the "Sveza Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha" mill.

The Tyumen asset of the company was founded in 2008 by Almira Karimova from the Tyumen Region and Oleg Knyazev from Kazan.

The authorized capital of the plant was a nominal 10 thousand rubles.

In 2017, Karimova became the sole owner of the plywood plant, and a year later sold the company to LLC "Sveza".

In turn, LLC "Sveza" was established in 2015 by three firms: "FOR Invest", "Severgroup" and "Algorithm". The last two companies belong in different shares to the key shareholder of "Severstal" company Mordashov.

Immediately after the purchase of the plant by Mordashov’s company, the Tyumen asset began to have financial difficulties, and after the well-known events of February 2022, clouds gathered over Mordashov: he fell under sanctions.

Alexey Mordashov ceased to be the majority shareholder in the capital of the "Sveza" group in October 2022.

Alexey Mordashov

But already by the end of 2019, production in Tyumen suffered losses of 159 million rubles. Then the situation seemed to start improving, and by 2021, the plant’s profit exceeded 1.2 billion rubles. But already in the next year, the asset rolled back into losses. And hasn’t climbed out of this "pit" yet.

The "Sveza Tyumen" plywood plant for 2022 received 27 million rubles of net loss under RAS against 1.2 billion rubles of net profit a year earlier.

Revenue decreased 2.2 times - to 2.4 billion rubles.

Plywood from the plant in Tyumen was sold to 17 countries in Europe

Plywood from the plant in Tyumen was sold to 6 CIS countries, 5 Asian countries, 17 European countries, as well as to Australia.

Europe completely refused Mordashov’s plywood, and relations with former Finnish partners turned into a heavy court process.

Mordashov Butted Heads with Raute Corporation

What happened? The new equipment for the "Sveza Tyumen" plant never reached Tyumen, as it remained "sunbathing" in warehouses in Finland, and the money ended up in the "freezer".

It was because of personal sanctions against billionaire Alexey Mordashov that the Tyumen Plywood Plant was left without new equipment from Finland. And the plant could not return the paid advance in euros.

And the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region denied the company satisfaction of the claims against the Finnish company Raute Corporation and the Russian LLC "Raute Service".

How did it happen?

In January 2022, the company "Sveza Tyumen" concluded a contract with the Finnish Raute Corporation for the supply of equipment for the modernization of the peeling line. The contract price exceeded 2 million euros.

The buyer in early February 2022 paid 30% as an advance payment - more than 600 thousand euros. And just a few weeks later, after the well-known events of February, it became known about the decision of the EU Council to include Alexey Mordashov in the sanctions lists.

The money of the Tyumen company "Sveza" was arrested by the judicial authorities of Finland. And the supplier notified the buyer of the immediate winding down of the project. And 607,500 euros got stuck in the electronic queue at the Russian-Finnish border.

But in the decision of March 14, 2025, the Arbitration Court of the City of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region indicated that the Russian side did not take reasonable actions sufficient to unfreeze assets in Finland. The case contains a response from the Finnish Foreign Ministry group, which provides examples and the procedure for exemption from sanctions. And the court instance explained to the company "Sveza Tyumen" how to act to return the money. Or try to continue working with the partner.

But the Tyumen Plywood Plant showed strange indifference.

And here emerges such a fact from Mordashov’s bright biography: once he bought OJSC "Karelsky Okatysh", and immediately staff reductions began and hiring of guest workers, and in parallel, the billionaire bought a pleasure boat for 1 million dollars.

Notably, against the backdrop of the conservation of the plant in Tyumen, the construction of a new plywood plant in the Uvatsky District is being discussed. The project is overseen by the company Tyumen LPK (owned by LLC "Tyumen Invest Private Limited", Singapore). And the launch is scheduled for 2027.

Investors are ready to invest over 10 billion rubles in the development of the site, which will create almost 500 jobs.

Will they take Mordashov’s people there?

At the "Crossing" He Came Up Short

Thus, the largest shareholder of PJSC "Severstal" is losing and losing his political influence.

And Mordashov’s appointees in power are losing their posts.

The City Duma of Cherepovets has already been left by deputies Igor Lagunov and Mikhail Kolbichenkov, who were associated with PJSC "Severstal".

The resignation of the governor of the Vologda Region Oleg Kuvshinnikov looked very indicative.

Oleg Kuvshinnikov

Kuvshinnikov himself is also a native of PJSC "Severstal".

Georgy Filimonov became the first leader in history independent of the largest company: he decided to get rid of the hegemony of the industrial "monster". And very quickly, the heads of the ministries of natural resources, forestry complex, economic development, and others lost their posts.

The first deputy governor Eduard Zaynak, deputy governor for internal policy Evgeny Bogomazov, deputy governor for economy Tatyana Goligina, who is also associated with PJSC "Severstal", as well as the mayor of Vologda Sergey Voropanov resigned. Resignations also occurred in Cherepovets: Vice-Mayor Dmitry Lavrov left his post, previously he held the position of head of the electrical repair shop of PJSC "Severstal".

Georgy Filimonov

The confrontation between billionaire Mordashov and the "leader of the Komsomol" Filimonov began immediately: Filimonov stated that Mordashov lacks patriotism.

And, probably, love for loved ones.

Multichild Father in Courts

Here is a characteristic story.

In the late 90s, Mordashov butted heads with Oleg Deripaska and Iskander Makhmudov. Several times in the struggle for assets, he had to retreat under the tough pressure of competitors, and with Makhmudov it came to the point - according to Mordashov’s lawyers - that he financed the fight for alimony of the billionaire’s first wife, Elena Novitskaya. They got married while still students. Two children were born in the marriage.

And this drama reached the European Court.

Former spouses Mordashovs

After all, during the divorce in 1996, the owner of one of the world’s largest steel enterprises Mordashov signed an agreement with his ex-wife: he left Elena Novitskaya a not entirely new VAZ-2109, a modest apartment in Cherepovets, 1.5 thousand "greens" a month "for the kids’ milk", and took the shares of "Severstal" company for himself.

However, Novitskaya soon demanded her share. But the Russian court predictably refused. And then the billionaire’s son Ilya Mordashov took his mother’s surname. The case reached Strasbourg, where Novitskaya intended to prove that Mordashov has influence on the Russian judicial system. And then the billionaire quickly went for a settlement.

Today, Mr. Mordashov already has 6 children, 2 divorces. And a new wife.

His attitude towards ordinary people remained the same.

"We must have low costs" - this is the main motto of billionaire Mordashov the manager.

Here is an interesting transcript of a meeting with relatives of 26 miners from the "Severnaya" mine (owner Mordashov) in Vorkuta, who after a terrible accident remained walled up underground.

And Mordashov again started the record about low costs... Although he was shocked when he learned that the miners of "Severnaya" had to go into gassed faces under the threat of dismissal. And the miners did not receive their meager salary on time.

And the former general director of the "Severnaya" mine Vadim Larin, ex-top manager of "Severstal" company, who received a monthly salary from Mordashov of almost 7 million rubles, was declared wanted internationally.

Mr. Larin

Mr. Larin today lives comfortably in London.

The new governor Filimonov meanwhile stated that he does not want to continue the protracted conflict with Mordashov’s "Severstal" in the style of Beavis and Butt-Head. He proposed to bury the hatchet (it’s clear that they gave Filimonov a good knock on the head from the Kremlin).

And one more touch...

Once Alexey Mordashov became the hero of the first issue of Forbes in the Russian edition. To the question why the editor-in-chief chose him, Mordashov, without blushing, answered: "I think he wanted to find a businessman who would have a sufficiently decent biography".

Shall we argue?