After “proactive” efforts to petition the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (The Central Bank), in September 2022, Revo Russia (OOO Revo Technologies MFC) obtained special permission in order “to accelerate repayment of its obligations to Mintos investors in payments larger than 10 million RUB monthly.”
As a condition for granting permission, The Central Bank “stipulated a maximum repayment of €10.4 million, or 65% of the lending company’s debt to investors on Mintos.”
Six months later and in line “with the terms of its restructuring agreement, Revo Russia has repaid the agreed total of €10.4 million and we’re closing the case.” Any remaining outstanding amounts were “declared as bad debt as per Mintos classification, and Revo Russia has exited Mintos.”
At the present time, Russian companies are “allowed to pay lenders in “unfriendly” jurisdictions not more than RUB 10 million per month.”
Repayment of higher amounts “requires consent from The Central Bank.”
Such consent typically “imposes a loss to creditors, which is a common practice by Russian authorities.” When the option of repayment requiring investors on Mintos “to accept losses was presented by Revo Russia in September 2022, Mintos evaluated the alternatives.”
This reportedly “included Revo Russia only transferring the maximum allowed of RUB 10 million per month allowed under the restrictions introduced by the Russian government.”
In Mintos’ view, going ahead “with the accelerated repayment plan agreed to by Revo Russia with The Central Bank and the attached conditions has led to the best outcome for investors, both in terms of the recovered amount and the speed of recovery.”
This outcome “allows investors on Mintos to access and reinvest the repaid funds now to earn a return, instead of waiting several years to collect possibly a higher amount, which may be further impacted by additional regulatory uncertainties.”
The funds “recovered from Revo Russia have been distributed to investors.”
The usual amortization sequence “was amended and funds were distributed proportionally to all affected investors based on their outstanding investments in Revo Russia portfolios.”
Mintos fees “payable by Revo Russia were also collected proportionally, instead of collecting all fees upfront.” As noted in a blog post, the “unrecovered amounts (€5.5 million) were classified as bad debt as per Mintos classification.”
Since Revo Russia joined Mintos back in 2020, “through interest and other payments, investors have earned more than €840 000.”
As mentioned in the update, they’ll “continue working on recovering outstanding obligations to investors on Mintos from the remaining Russian lending companies.”