The end of Vavrysh’s "Saga". Is the developer with a portfolio of luxury real estate preparing to go bankrupt?

Our country, unfortunately, is not famous for the virtue of its developers. Starting from the 2000s, we can recall several high-profile bankruptcies in the developer market, as a result of which assets "disappeared" in an unknown direction, and investors, instead of the desired apartments, received only lengthy legal disputes, which ultimately brought nothing.

In 2024, it seems, there may be a new high-profile bankruptcy of not just a construction company, but a reputable capital developer with business and premium class residential complexes in its portfolio. We are talking about the company "Saga Development", the founder and director of which is the ex-official and businessman Andriy Vavrysh, close to the former head of the Presidential Office. Despite the fact that the owner of "Saga" publicly states that all this is slander, the company operates in the usual mode, a significant number of documented moments confirm that neither "Saga Development" nor Andriy Vavrysh himself are doing well. This is in our material.

Historical bankruptcy

One of the most high-profile scams in the modern history of Ukraine is the construction projects of the Elita-Center company. From 2004 to 2006, the company’s founders sold solid real estate at prices below market prices. This "gesture of goodwill" did not scare off buyers. Many people wanted to buy the desired housing from a developer who allegedly had European roots and an impeccable public reputation. The owners of Elita-Center were able to receive almost 400 million hryvnia from investors, which at that time was equal to 80 million US dollars. Despite the courts and even the arrest of some members of the organized crime group, the investors of Elita-Center have not been able to achieve justice for 20 years: there is no housing, the money is lost. Some people have been paying off loans for many years, which they took in dollars for the desired housing. In 2008, the dollar exchange rate against the hryvnia increased by 60%, and the Global Economic Crisis began.

A similar situation later developed with investors who trusted construction projects under the auspices of the Arkada bank. According to the calculations of the victims who invested in the Patriotika residential complex, which is still only partially built, about 400 million hryvnia of investments also went up in smoke in Arkada.

Rally of investors of housing projects "Arkada" near Kyiv City State Administration

It is also worth mentioning the bankruptcy of construction projects of the well-known developer Anatoliy Voitsekhovskyi, who arbitrarily seized territories for houses without permission from the authorities. As a result, in 2020, criminal proceedings were initiated against him, the businessman fled Ukraine, taking with him investors’ funds.

The most high-profile bankruptcy of development companies in recent years is Ukrbud, a company owned by the scandalous ex-politician Maksym Mykytas, who is currently facing several criminal investigations. In general, Mykytas’s story is worthy of being filmed, because only from the leaks of his correspondence can one understand the story of a multimillionaire who, from purchasing an exclusive Lamborghini Urus, sank to borrowing money from friends. Mykytas is balancing between a pretrial detention center and house arrest, but now we are not talking about him.

Maksym Mykytas on one of the ships

The story of Vavrysh and Mykytas has several similarities: firstly, they both became famous and wealthy through their political connections. Mykytas’s sharp rise took place under President Petro Poroshenko, whose party he served as a member of parliament. Andriy Vavrysh, the former deputy director of the department of urban development and architecture of the Kyiv City State Administration, unexpectedly became a reputable developer under the current President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. His success was associated with a close friendship with the former head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Bohdan. Probably everyone remembers the scandalous footage of Bohdan on holiday in Saint-Tropez. In France, Bohdan and Vavrysh attended the wedding of lawyer Andriy Dovbenko. After this trip of the businessman and head of the presidential chancellery, the authorities came up with the idea of moving the President’s Office to the "Ukrainian House" and making it an open-space. It was Vavrysh who promoted this concept.

Andriy Bohdan in Saint-Tropez in September 2019, photo from his Facebook page

The office of the President of Ukraine remains in the old building on Bankova, and the idea of moving it to another location is no longer being discussed.

Another point that allows us to draw a parallel between Vavrysh and Mykytas is the circumstances in which their companies, Saga Development and Ukrbud, respectively, found themselves. Mykytas’s company found itself on the verge of bankruptcy due to a large loan portfolio. To date, the final verdict on the Ukrbud issue has not been made, since the court overturned the decision to declare the construction giant bankrupt, but they also lost all their construction licenses. As for Saga Development, the bankruptcy procedure has not yet been launched, but it may be just around the corner. This is evidenced by three points at once.

Financial difficulties

Despite the fact that Saga Development is a powerful capital developer, the company itself can hardly be called stable. The corporation’s management has reasonable questions. First of all, it is necessary to look at the developer’s ownership structure.

The authorized capital of a large developer is nominal - only 10 thousand hryvnia. If we take for comparison, another capital construction company, also implementing projects of business and premium segments - "City One Development" - has almost 30 million hryvnia of its own capital. That is, in case of bankruptcy or even winning a lawsuit, it is impossible to recover funds from the company. This is confirmed by the situation with the famous TV presenter Olha Freimut, who sued "Saga Development" for funds for untimely fulfillment of the terms of the contract, but cannot receive them due to the lack of money in the corporation’s accounts.

Next. There is a "gasket" between Saga and Vavrysh - the Panamanian offshore company "TREVOR BUSINESS S.A." Through a company registered in accordance with Panamanian law, Vavrysh is the owner of a large Ukrainian developer. Why there is an offshore "gasket" in a transparent legal entity is a big question. This point also makes it impossible to collect funds from Saga Development.

Information on the ownership structure and authorized capital of Saga Development

The third point, however, is no less important - the financial statements of Andriy Vavrysh’s company. Last year, Saga’s income decreased more than twice compared to 2022. According to the developer’s accounting data, last year Saga Development earned only UAH 7.3 million. The company, according to the accounting, is unprofitable. In 2022, according to statistics, things were much better. However, how can this be explained if the entire 2022, from the beginning of the full-scale invasion - February 24, ending in September of the same year, there was a complete "calm" on the market - no one built anything, no one bought anything?

Financial statements of Saga Development

But let’s face it. Such financial statements show only one thing: the money that people pay for apartments does not go to Saga’s accounts. After all, if you believe the official financial statements, over the past 4 years the company has sold 10 apartments at most. Vavrysh’s situation is no better. According to data from the debtor register, 6 enforcement proceedings have been initiated against Vavrysh for a total of about 260 million hryvnia. Several more problematic issues are currently being considered in court, so it is possible that Vavrysh’s debts will only continue to grow.

Information on open enforcement proceedings against Vavrysh

Despite the fact that Vavrysh has numerous obligations, some of which have been going on for decades, he lives in luxury. However, virtually all of the developer’s property is under arrest. Not long ago, his Mercedes-Benz was encumbered, and the same fate awaited the land plots belonging to the owner of Saga Development. We are talking about 13 land plots owned by Vavrysh.

While martial law is in effect in Ukraine, all those liable for military service are prohibited from crossing the state border, Vavrysh has traveled outside of Ukraine dozens of times, a source at the State Border Service told ANTIKOR. Formally, he has the right to do so, since he has a deferment from military service, since he is the father of three children. Nevertheless, the enforcement service began to suspect that the businessman would sooner or later go abroad in order to avoid paying off his numerous debts.

That is why in March of this year, the senior state enforcement officer of the Department of Compulsory Enforcement of Decisions of the Department of State Executive Service of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, Velychko R.S., filed a petition for a temporary restriction on the right to travel abroad of citizen Vavrysh A.V. The issue was considered in the Pecherskyi District Court of the capital. The petition was based on the fact that Vavrysh owed hundreds of millions of hryvnias and could be hiding abroad in order not to repay the loans.

The court (for some reason) decided not to grant the bailiff’s request and denied it.

Information from the court registry on the bailiff’s petition to restrict Vavrysh’s right to travel abroad

This is only the beginning of our investigation. The editorial staff of ANTIKOR continues to study dozens of volumes of documents containing many facts about how Saga Development may soon burst.