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Russian court seizes assets from UniCredit, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank

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Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the UK is “not at war” and criticised Russian leader Vladimir Putin for his “irresponsible rhetoric”.
Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the UK is “not at war” and criticised Russian leader Vladimir Putin for his “irresponsible rhetoric”.

A Russian court has ordered that Deutsche Bank’s and Commerzbank’s assets, accounts, property and shares be seized in Russia as part of a lawsuit involving the German banks, court documents showed.

The banks were among the guarantor lenders under a contract for the construction of a gas processing plant in Russia with Germany’s Linde, which was terminated due to Western sanctions.

The lawsuits were filed by St Petersburg-based RusChemAlliance, a joint venture 50% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom which is the operator of the project.

The St Petersburg arbitration court has barred Deutsche Bank from exercising its 100% interest in the authorised capital of its Russian subsidiary, as well as Deutsche Bank Technology Center LLC.

The court has also imposed the seizure of up to 238.6 million euros ($259 million) in securities, real estate and bank accounts of Deutsche Bank, as well as its Russian subsidiary and Deutsche Bank Technology Center.

Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt said it had already provisioned around 260 million euros for the case.

“We will need to see how this claim is implemented by the Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia,” the bank said in a statement.

The court also seized Commerzbank’s assets worth 93.7 million euros ($101.85 million) as well as securities and the bank’s building in central Moscow.

Commerzbank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Russian court on Friday ordered UniCredit’s assets, accounts and property, as well as shares in two subsidiaries, be seized as part of a parallel lawsuit.

The ruling by a St Petersburg arbitration court covers 462.7 million euros ($503 million) in securities, real estate and accounts belonging to UniCredit as well as 100% of shares in UniCredit Leasing and UniCredit Garant.

UniCredit said in a statement that the seizure affected only a fraction of their Russian unit’s assets, not the entire subsidiary. “The rest of the details we are currently reviewing,” it said.

After Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International, UniCredit is Europe’s biggest lender in Russia and faces mounting pressure from euro zone banking supervisors to reduce its business there.

Reuters