Sberbank has filed for bankruptcy against TFN, one of Russia's largest smartphone suppliers. The Moscow Arbitration Court has registered the lawsuit, according to Forbes, according to the court's database. The case is scheduled for hearing on January 21, 2026. TFN also filed for bankruptcy, but the hearing was postponed pending a ruling on Sberbank's petition.

TFN LLC was registered in Moscow in 2009 and, according to SPARK-Interfax, is owned by Konstantin Geskin (50.91%), Andrey Samoilov (43.82%), and Pavel Gurevich (5.26%). TFN's website notes that the distributor's portfolio includes 48 electronics brands and that it partners with over 70 organizations. In particular, the company supplies equipment to Russia from brands such as Apple, Samsung, Realme, Tecno, Dyson, Kivi, Sher-Khan, and others. TFN was once the main supplier of Samsung and Nokia smartphones to the Russian market. After the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the company switched to parallel imports. In 2022, its revenue amounted to 29.37 billion rubles.

Meanwhile, as a result of Samsung's withdrawal from Russia, which provided its partners with leverage, TFN began to experience financial difficulties, a source in the electronics market told Forbes. "The company was forced to switch to loans available to businesses, and when the [Central Bank] interest rate rose, they simply couldn't cope," the source explained. Furthermore, TFN suffered due to the bankruptcy of the Svyaznoy chain, as it was one of its creditors. Svyaznoy failed to repay the company more than 308 million rubles, which created a "significant hole in working capital," the source noted.

Sberbank filed for TFN's bankruptcy because of a delay in fulfilling financial obligations, says Dmitry Gostev, Realme's Vice President of Sales in Russia until 2025. The company became the second major smartphone distributor to face creditor claims in 2025. The first was Marvel Distribution. Its operating legal entity, MKT LLC, is in bankruptcy proceedings following a lawsuit filed by Sovcombank.

In addition to financial problems, TFN is facing a declining smartphone market, notes Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. He believes TFN's bankruptcy will negatively impact the entire market and lead to a redistribution of shares and contracts among the remaining participants. "TFN was a strong player, and market conditions have developed this way. This could happen to anyone," Murtazin concluded.

source: The Moscow Times https://archive.is/nvhO0