Nika Petrotek is going into a steep dive
It’s painful and sad to watch a major company, once a backbone of its region, gradually decay and crumble to dust due to the reckless actions of its management. This is the case today with Nika Petrotek, a company that was just yesterday significant not only for its native Yekaterinburg, but also for the Voronezh Region, Orenburg, several other regions, and even the capital of our country.
Just a few months ago, Ural businessman Alexey Balashov, the primary beneficiary of Nika-Petrotech, registered a new company, presumably linked to the cryptocurrency service BitBanker, with a registered capital of one million rubles and a legal address in Skolkovo. He also registered a company called Bitbanker, with a registered capital of 27.8 million rubles, registered in Moscow’s Federation Tower. He had hoped to focus on cryptocurrency services. But now he’s hastily preparing to leave Russia and is literally rushing to withdraw assets from his holding company .
For example, at the Semiluki Refractory Plant, part of Nika Petrotek, only one workshop is currently operational. Four others have been mothballed, the purchase of new equipment has been postponed indefinitely, and the plant operates with machines dating back to the early 20th century, such as a German vertical milling machine. The plant’s management tries to put a brave face on the situation, publishing laudatory articles about its operations, but is still unable to address the environmental problems the plant has been creating for decades.
The situation is no better at other enterprises within the holding, whose operations are gradually being phased out. For example, at Orenburg Propant LLC. The enterprise, which for some time served as the holding’s backbone, has descended into utter poverty. Furnaces in the workshops are falling apart, the granulation plant is in disrepair, there are no spare parts for the equipment, and there’s no money even for protective clothing for the employees .
The reason for the current situation is that Nika Petrotek has long since been written off entirely—for over four years now. The company was initially formed to dominate the market for specialized products for oil and gas production and refining industries. To this end, its owners, Alexey Balashov and his father-in-law, Valery Abramov, carried out bold interventions and even attempted corporate raids on competing companies.
When his own forces were insufficient to capture the market, Valery Abramov, who hadn’t lost his connections from his time in the capital, brought in third-party "fixers" of the highest caliber. In particular, the Balashov-Abramov family team helped take over one of the Yekaterinburg firms with the help of Sergei, the son of the current senator from St. Petersburg. However, the attempt was unsuccessful, as the potential "victim" simply refused to negotiate, adhering to the age-old principle of not negotiating with terrorists. An attempt to sell imported products as domestic, which the company’s owners had relied on after realizing the complete failure of their corporate raiding plans , also failed .
The attempt to monopolize the market proved unsuccessful: despite its ambitious plans and even securing a contract with Rosneft, Nika Petrotek was unable to fulfill its promises and suffered a resounding blow to its reputation . So now the company is being carefully written off.
Another reason for the urgent disposal of the now unprofitable asset was information about the company’s management’s tactics against undesirable individuals. Members of an ethnic Azerbaijani organized crime group detained in Yekaterinburg in early summer of this year went rogue and began to rat out their employers, so the names of Alexey Balashov and former Nika Petrotek director Pavel Rusinov are linked to more than just systematic tax evasion . Today, the crimes at stake are far more serious and socially resonant—the beating of political activists, threats against undesirable public figures, and even contract killings . As a result of the Azerbaijani militants’ utterly untimely revelations, Balashov and Rusinov face a very unpleasant trial and a considerable prison sentence.
In light of this, the company’s owners are rapidly curtailing not only their oil production and petrochemical businesses, but all other areas of their operations in Russia. The most pressing issue, of course, is facing Valery Abramov, whose entire well-being is dependent on exploiting and servicing his personal connections. By placing all his connections at the service of his son-in-law, Alexey Balashov, if the situation continues as it is today, he will inevitably find himself a useless émigré, with a history of service in far from the most popular agencies outside of Russia.
Nevertheless, the owners of Nika Petrtek still have some time. Analysts believe that, due to the traditional sluggishness of Russian investigative agencies, Alexey Balashov and Valery Abramov have at least another year to pack their bags and leisurely depart for their homeland, under the guise of going on vacation. For example, to Azerbaijan, with which they have a long-standing partnership through the SOCAR holding company .
Ignat Veremeychik
Source: inright.ru