Geller Alexander Aronovich: biography, business

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Imagine an airborne officer who has established more than 6 companies, including a network of car dealerships, a transport company and several advertising companies. This man's name is Alexander Aronovich Geller. Why is his business on the verge of bankruptcy today? After all, 10 years ago, Forbes considered him one of the hundred richest people in Russia.

Alexander Geller's empire: how did it all begin?

The biography of Alexander Aronovich Geller has been interesting from the moment he started selling used foreign cars back in 1992. Then the future oligarch founded the Gema company. After working for several years and earning good capital, Alexander Aronovich began to think about expanding his business.

Then all cars in Russia were imported by Finnish suppliers. None of us took it seriously. Alexander Aronovich Geller was the first to see an empty niche and hurried to take advantage of the moment. First, two used Scania car carriers were bought - for our own needs.

By this time, Geller already had 4 car dealerships. Own technique helped a lotsave. And then there was a default. Gema settled with suppliers in dollars - the business only benefited from this.

However, the demand for foreign cars fell somewhat - the population simply did not have enough money to buy cars in the same volume, but at new prices. Alexander Aronovich Geller was not at a loss and decided to offer car transportation services.

Additional equipment was purchased, and by 2000 Geller completely squeezed the Finns out of this niche, becoming, in fact, a monopolist. Its car transporter fleet was 4 times larger than its closest competitors.

By 2006 the situation on the market had stabilized and people started buying foreign cars again. Despite the fact that now several companies were engaged in transportation, Gema Motors still dictated its terms and was the absolute leader.

Tough business rules from Alexander Geller

Geller's methods are not gentlemanly. Counterparties were "twisted" - the company could suddenly stop deliveries, citing, for example, a fictitious debt, and blackmail the manufacturer, knocking out more favorable conditions for itself.

This is what happened to 3,000 Ford vehicles that Geller suddenly "frozen" in his warehouses. He later stated that the supply had been cut off because Ford owed him $4.5 million. Deadlines were on fire, dealers in showrooms were waiting for their cars, and Gema Motors lawyers were cold-bloodedly squeezing money out of the manufacturer.

By the way,the Americans then got out by filing a counterclaim and concluding a contract with Gema's competitors. True, only at the cost of significant financial losses. If another company had been in their place, it would have been hard for her.

The fact remains, a month later Geller was forced to retreat. However, this was not often the case. The former paratrooper basically doesn't like to lose.

Geller did not give mercy to competitors either. Here dumping became his weapon. With a car transporter costing $200,000, Gema charged only $5,000 per trip. With the largest park, Geller could afford those rates.

Transportation business crisis

However, this could not continue for long. Gradually, many new companies entered the market, and Gema had to move. Of course, it cannot be said that the company began to operate at a loss, but one could only dream of former profits.

Then Geller decided to expand the network of car dealerships. In the 90s he traded Saab cars. Now Opel, Chevrolet, Jeep, Audi, Mercedes, Dodge, Chrysler and Skoda have been added to them.

In 2007, the turnover exceeded 500 million dollars. In 2006-2007 alone, the company doubled the number of car dealerships: from 5 to 10. However, Alexander Aronovich did not stop there.

He wanted his piece of the state "pie" - Geller decided to get access to budget money. 700 executive cars were purchased. They were intended to serve officials of the Accounts Chamber and the Ministry of Natural Resources, deputies of the Federalcongregations as well as private clients.

There was an experience in creating a taxi service - 150 cars were purchased for this. Geller's buses carry buyers of the largest shopping centers around the city: Ashana, Mega, IKEA, OBI. In total, more than 100 pieces of equipment were purchased for these purposes.

Problems in the advertising business

Problems began, as always, when they were not expected. In 2011, Auto Cell, a subsidiary of Gema, unexpectedly won a tender for advertising in the Moscow metro. It should be noted that the contract expired only in 2016. At the same time, the starting price of the lot was 1.5 times higher than the deductions of the previous operator.

On the photo is Galina Kogan, CEO of Auto Cell.

However, the auction lasted only 10 minutes. And the tender was won not by anyone, but by the then unknown Auto Cell with an authorized capital of 10,000 rubles, registered 6 months before the auction. It is hard to believe that this is a coincidence, and the officials were not materially interested in believing in the new favorite.

As expected, the contract was terminated. Only a newcomer unexpectedly sued the metro for 3 billion rubles.

After that, a criminal case was opened against the company. In addition, the metro has filed a civil lawsuit to recover the debt. Only in 2012 did Geller somehow manage to reach an agreement. The company paid out 400 million instead of the required 579 for the II quarter. In addition, she pledged to pay 600 million rubles in advance every quarter. NonethelessAuto Cell's debt at the end of 2015 was 1.12 billion rubles.

Business in a new way by Alexander Geller

Between 2013 and 2015, Geller was hit by a string of lawsuits. Auto Cell could not even pay the company that made the website for it - only 1 million rubles.

At the same time, the company simply "threw" the contractor - the work was accepted, but the money was not paid. And this company was supposed to replenish the subway's treasury by almost 30 billion rubles over 6 years. How could one hope for that?

Further - more. The contractor filed a claim for 3 million rubles to the Gema-Invest company, which was unable to pay for the construction of the AutoTechCenter building. Again, the work was done and accepted, but the Geller structures refused to pay for it.

Besides, Auto Cell owed 1.8 million rubles for communication services. Apparently, doing business in this way has become commonplace for Gema.

The company is sinking: the last hope

In 2015, Geller decided to go into the construction business. It became known that the Moscow mayor's office intends to invest 20 billion rubles and another 105 billion were planned for the next 3 years. How not to participate in the section of this "pie"?

Of course, after the scandals with the subway, direct access to government contracts was closed to Geller. However, the old connections remained. As the journalists managed to unearth, Vladimir Chernikov was the "roof" of Alexander Geller in the authorities. At one time, he served as head of the State Duma Affairs Department.

According to media reports, it was he who helped thenAlexander Aronovich Geller with a contract for the supply of cars to officials. Apparently, he also helped in the story with the subway.

The program "My Street" provided for a comprehensive repair of sidewalks on 50 streets of the capital. And again, as in the story with the subway, the tender for the supply of 80% of paving slabs was won by the unknown company Bekam. The contract amounted to 537 million rubles, but the company's revenue for 2014 was 1.08 billion rubles.

It is noteworthy that the director of the company is a foreign businessman Alex Geller, and the sole owner of Galina Kovaleva is an ordinary Muscovite.

And that's not the most amazing thing

Outdoor advertising has become one of the businessman's interests. In Moscow, Alexander Geller's company LLC TRK won a competition for 1,400 advertising spaces. The competition was held in 2013. The total amount of the contract amounted to 22.5 billion rubles.

In December 2016, Geller again violated his obligations. Contracts with LLC TRK were terminated. In February 2017, the company still paid part of the debt. 5 out of 8 contracts were reinstated, leaving 1,000 advertising spaces at the disposal of the TV and Radio Company.

However, at the beginning of 2018, the SEC again delayed another payment. However, the company continues to accept promotional applications for this year.

Another scandal with the advertising contractor of the Moscow metro

After the Auto Cell scandal, which was declared bankrupt, not much time has passed. And in 2016, like a bolt from the blue - a tender for advertising in the Moscowthe subway wins the Trade Company, owned by Alexander Geller's Gema.

RBC reports that FC Otkritie bank acted as a guarantor. However, in 2017, it did not extend the guarantee, because it itself underwent a sanitation procedure. On December 27, the police detained Rima Soghomonyan, CEO of the Trade Company (pictured below). She is suspected of providing a fake Sberbank bank guarantee.

According to the latest data, Alexander Geller himself currently lives in Ostozhenka. However, there are persistent rumors that soon he is going to leave Russia along with his billions.

Summarize

Currently Alexander Geller's structures are in big trouble. What will happen to the enterprises is unknown. What does the oligarch hope for? Can another government contract pull him out of the financial hole? While militiamen detain only managers. There are no complaints about the entrepreneur himself. Then why hasn't he left the country yet?

Only time can answer these questions. TRK Company still occupies the 5th place in the rating of the largest suppliers of outdoor advertising in Moscow. However, she constantly experiences financial difficulties. A criminal case has been initiated against the management of the Trade Company. Most likely, the company itself is also awaiting liquidation.

Experts say that the bankruptcy of Alexander Geller's structures is inevitable and it's only a matter of time.