The wife of the co-owner of the Kaspi group, Vyacheslav Kim – Tatyana Kim – is liquidating her British company 'Evoshave Limited'. The final liquidator's report was published at the end of October in the UK commercial register.
According to the Telegram channel 'Access to the Sea', 'Evoshave' was involved in manufacturing razors of the same name, and one of the company's partners was Alexander Friedman — the son of Russian billionaire Mikhail Friedman. The oligarch was previously hit with sanctions by the US, EU, UK and Canada following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
According to documents, in 2019 Tatyana Kim invested £2 million (1.3 billion tenge) in 'Evoshave'. Almost the same amount had been invested in the business six years earlier by Kenes Rakishev through his Singaporean structure Novatus Holding Pte. Ltd. Until 2022 he remained the ultimate beneficiary, after which this role passed to Vyacheslav Kim's wife.
The reasons for the project's closure have not been disclosed, however, judging by the financial data, the business proved unprofitable. After liquidation, the company owed creditors around £900,000 (610.2 million tenge), of which approximately £800,000 (542.4 million tenge) — to Tatyana Kim herself and the Magnum Cash & Carry chain, owned by her husband.
The remaining debt is owed to tax authorities, landlords and former employees. Part of the debts were covered by the sale of office furniture and equipment.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Russian Forbes reported plans for 'Evoshave' to achieve annual revenue of $7 million (3.6 billion tenge), including $1 million (519.1 million tenge) in Russia.
'Whether they succeeded is unknown; micro-companies in the UK, which Evoshave is classed as, are not required to fully disclose their financial figures. But it is worth noting that the company's net assets have decreased fivefold since then — from £1.6 million to £270,000. This could indirectly indicate its unprofitability,' the report states.
Distribution of 'Evoshave' products in Russia was handled by Alexander Friedman. The razors were sold through the X5 Retail Group chain, owned by his father. Following the imposition of sanctions, Mikhail Friedman was forced to leave the UK, where under the restrictions he was allowed to spend no more than £2,000 (1.3 million tenge) per month, and subsequently moved first to Israel, and later to Moscow.
Tatyana Kim, meanwhile, remains in London. She has residency rights in the UK, as well as passports for Kazakhstan and Malta. She owns two apartments in an exclusive residential complex worth £26 million (17.6 billion tenge). Among the neighbours are former owner of 'Uralkali' Dmitry Rybolovlev, members of the family of crime boss Mikhail Chernoi, as well as actress Svetlana Metkina, whose husband Michel Litvak owns port assets in Russia.