Sberbank filed 14 lawsuits against one of the largest private cement producers in the world - Eurocement Group of Filaret Galchev and its subsidiaries (Peterburgcement, Maltsovskiy Portlandcement, and Maltsovskoe karyeroupravlenie), follows from the filing of arbitration cases. Nine lawsuits contain pecuniary claims totaling RUB 155.3 billion, while all claims include two amounts - RUB 11.7 billion. and 21.7 billion rubles, VTB was attracted as a third party in claims.
Of 155.3 billion rubles. Sberbank wants to recover 21.7 billion from "Maltsovsky Portlandcement" because of the "debt under the supply agreement", and on the rest of the claims for a total of 133.6 billion rubles. the credit institution demands to collect the pledged property.
The press services of Sberbank, VTB and Eurocement Group refused to comment to Vedomosti on the reason for going to court and the content of the claims.
Sberbank has filed claims against the Eurocement holding for a total amount of 33.4 billion rubles, says Viktoria Velyuga, a lawyer in the dispute resolution practice of the Intellectual Capital law firm. “It is planned to repay the debt that has been formed by foreclosure on the liquid property of the group of companies,” she told Vedomosti. Viktor Petrov, head of the arbitration practice of the Vegas Lex law firm, in turn, believes that Sberbank "undoubtedly plans to collect all the claimed amounts - the difference in measures may be due to the fact that pledges exist only in respect of a part of [material] claims."
According to Fedresurs, Sberbank acts as a mortgagee of financial assets (100% share), intellectual property, securities, equipment, etc. under 24 pledge agreements with Eurocement Group JSC. Peterburgcement has four pledges to Sberbank (vehicles are pledged) and two to VTB (property rights - 100% share). Maltsovsky Portlandcement has seven pledges, four of which are for Sberbank for vehicles, two for VTB for property rights (100% share), and another one for vehicles is owned by Volvo Finance East.
At the end of November last year, RBC reported, citing sources, that Sberbank had received a debt from Eurocement Group to VTB. In 2016, the company's debt reached 100 billion rubles, of which 65 billion rubles. Eurocement Group owed Sberbank. The transfer of debts took place as part of an exchange between VTB and Sberbank, the newspaper reported. VTB bought the entire debt of Mechel from Igor Zyuzin to Sberbank in the amount of about 50 billion rubles. Thus, Sberbank is the largest creditor to the company.
In December 2019, Anatoly Popov, deputy chairman of the board of Sberbank, told reporters that the bank expects to receive a plan for restructuring Eurocement's debt in the first quarter of 2020. “We will be very actively cooperating to create a restructuring plan. I think that, in principle, we will see this strategy, probably, in the first quarter of 2020. And then it will become clear to us what we can do, because this is an issue that, of course, worries us, "he said. December 17, 2019 (quote from RBC).
Mikhail Skorokhod has been the president of Eurocement since 2002, and in February of this year, Eurocement group reported that Ashot Khachaturyants had been appointed to the position of general director of the company, who had left the post of general director of Sberbank Capital two weeks earlier. He also became the new president of the company, and Skorokhod was appointed to the post of chief executive vice president.
Holding "Eurocement Group" is one of the largest cement producers in the world, according to the company's website. The holding is included in the list of Russia's strategic enterprises. The holding includes 19 cement plants in Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine, as well as enterprises for the production of concrete, reinforced concrete products, mineral powder and non-metallic materials (crushed stone, granite). The production capacity of the enterprises of the holding, according to official data, is 60 million tons of cement and more than 11 million cubic meters. m of concrete. The reserves of non-metallic materials are estimated at more than 5.5 billion tons. The beneficiary is Filaret Galchev. Forbes estimated his fortune at $ 1 billion at the end of 2018. In February 2016, Galchev lost 6.12% of the shares of the world's largest cement producer LafargeHolcim worth $ 1.35 billion as a result of a margin call in Sberbank. Then his fortune fell from $ 5.6 billion to $ 305 million, Vedomosti wrote.