Oleg Nikishenkov

Mosmart, one of the pioneers of the Russian retail market, was in court again on Monday, facing fresh demands from suppliers to force it into bankruptcy at Moscow's Arbitration Court.

Analysts say it is quite likely that Monday's court hearing would not lead to major problems for Mosmart, as the company is heavily backed by Sberbank.

The companies that took Mosmart to court on Monday joined a long list of other suppliers who tried to get their money from the retailer.

Mosmart's debt in June 2009 exceeded 9 billion roubles ($295 million), including loans from Sberbank, its biggest creditor.
In recent months, the firm's suppliers have not just filed several tomes of bankruptcy claims, but also blocked supply chains by boycotting Mosmart purchases. The chain of 23 hypermarkets has at times taken on a surreal appearance, as its gigantic stores' shelves stood half-empty.

By the end of the year, the situation changed for the better. The company leveraged its debt with the help of Sberbank and managed to escape unpleasant bankruptcy procedures. Sberbank Capital restructured 3 billion roubles ($97 million) of Mosmart's debt and gave it new long-term loans of 3.9 billion rubles at 17 percent to 18 percent interest.

Last July, Sberbank Capital received a stake of 50 percent plus two shares in Mosmart. The investment banking arm of the state giant formed a new company under the Mosmart logo and started paying down the chain's debts to suppliers.

Bacarella, a company controlled by Sistema board member Yevgeny Novitsky, also took part in that deal. Bacarella got 10 percent minus one share of Mosmart; and Sarnatus Trading, which represented interests of the chain's previous majority owners, retained 40 percent minus one share.

Mikhail Shlepov, chief financial officer at Mosmart, stated on the company's website that it had paid down 70 per cent of its debt to suppliers and hoped to reach 17.5 billion roubles ($600 million) in sales revenues by the end of 2010.