MOSCOW, May 31 (Reuters) – On Friday, a Russian court eased restrictions on UniCredit in a lawsuit over an aborted gas project. The court allowed the use of Russian sovereign bond holdings as collateral.
In mid-May, the St. Petersburg arbitration court ruled to seize 462.7 million euros belonging to UniCredit. The ruling also targeted assets like real estate and shares in UniCredit subsidiaries.
In May, UniCredit stated the seizure affected only a fraction of the Russian unit’s assets, not the entire subsidiary, including UniCredit Leasing and UniCredit Garant, subsidiaries of AO UniCredit Bank, the Italian group’s Russian arm.
After the asset seizure, UniCredit’s Russian unit negotiated with RusChemAlliance. They agreed to pledge Russian OFZ treasury bond holdings valued at around 50 billion roubles. This decision was confirmed by the court.
UniCredit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The court considers this proportional to the claim, taking into account that the price of bonds undergoes periodic changes due to external market factors,” stated the court.
The OFZ pledge softens restrictions, allowing enforcement of the court’s decision in the future, as stated by the court.
The Italian bank was one of 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.
Additionally, it fosters a more conducive environment for UniCredit to conduct its business operations in Russia. Overall, the easing of restrictions marks a positive step forward in UniCredit’s journey to resolve the Russian lawsuit.
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