In 1994 along with Sergei Polonsky he founded Stroimontage Corporation, which was set to become one of the leaders of the construction and property development business in the St. Petersburg. From 1994 till 2010 he remained the chairman of the company.
In 2000 Stroimontage Corporation opened a subsidiary in Moscow. Sergei Polonsky has become a head of the Moscow operations whereas Artur Kirilenko concentrated on St Petersburg business.
In 2002 Sergei Polonsky and Artur Kirilenko divided up the business and in 2004 Sergei Polonsky rebranded the Moscow branch of Stroimontage as Mirax Group and disposed of his stake in the parent company of Stroimontage. After this restructuring Artur Kirilenko has become the sole shareholder of Stroimontage Corporation.
By 2008 Stroimontage Corporation, with sales revenue over 5.5 billion rubles, controlled circa 10% of the residential construction market in St Petersburg. In 2008 the company delivered 286,000 square metres of residential property. Since its inception, the company built over 800,000 square metres of residential and 60,000 square metres of commercial property.
Projects
Stroimontage Corporation led by Artur Kirilenko, carried out several prominent construction projects, which received various awards and diplomas.
Others
Disputes and litigation
At the height of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, as the construction sector experienced severe liquidity shortage, Baltisky Bank – one of the creditors of Stroimontage – initiated the series of lawsuits with the intention to acquire the company’s assets at the distress value. Baltisky Bank also brought suits against Artur Kirilenko personally as the borrower’s guarantor.
Criminal charges against Artur Kirilenko, which followed on from the litigation, were dropped as the inquiry found no sign of criminal conduct or wrongdoing in Artur Kirilenko’s actions.
The inquiry found all transactions with Stroimontage’s assets during the conflict with Baltisky Bank to be economically justified. It was also proven that the actions by the company and its management enabled the completion of the construction projects and delivery of the built property to individual private investors and repay part of the debts to the creditors.
No signs of premeditated bankruptcy in the actions by Stroimontage Corporation or its management actions were found by the inquiry.
In 2009 Stroimontage filed for bankruptcy with the Arbitration Court of St Petersburg, describing it as the necessary measure needed to protect the interests of private investors – particularly buyers of the off-plan residential property – against the hostile actions of Baltisky Bank.
In 2010 the court has declared Stroimontage insolvent; the company went into bankruptcy administration and Artur Kirilenko resigned as the company’s president. By the beginning of the insolvency proceedings Stroimontage had completed all its residential projects and fulfilled all its obligations to the buyers of the off-plan residential property and restructured its debt towards the other banks including Bank of St Petersburg, Sberbank, Alfa Bank, Baltinvestbank, Rosbank, Credit Europa Bank, Zenit Bank and others.
In February 2015 the Petrograd district court of St Petersburg approved the settlement agreement between the entities of Baltisky Bank and Artur Kirilenko as the guarantor of Stroimontage.
In 2015 Baltisky Bank has been bailed out and restructured by Alfa Bank, whilst its former shareholder and the de facto initiator of Stroimontage’s bankruptcy Oleg Shigaev was put on the wanted list and charged with fraud and money laundering.
In 2017 Baltisky Bank was finally taken over by Alfa Bank.