MOSCOW, June 20. /TASS/. The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region seized the property, funds and securities of subsidiaries of Germany’s Linde on the base of a claim filed by RusChemAlliance, according to the court files.
RusChemAlliance is the operator of the project for the construction of a gas processing and liquefaction complex in Ust-Luga, Leningrad region.
The court upheld the application of RusChemAlliance to take interim measures as part of its claim against Linde.
In March, RusChemAlliance filed a new claim against Linde GmbH and Linde PLC for 105.5 billion rubles ($1.2 bln). Linde UK Holdings No.2 Limited and Linde Holdings Netherlands No.3 B.V. were later brought into the case as co-defendants.
The seizure up to this amount was imposed on securities, shares and interests in any commercial companies, real estate of the British and Dutch subsidiaries of Linde, as well as on funds in all bank accounts opened in the name of Linde UK Holdings No.2 Limited and Linde Holdings Netherlands No.3 B.V.
The court also prohibited these companies from making transactions and other legally significant actions aimed at alienating or encumbering securities and shares, as well as transferring corporate and property rights in securities and shares.
"RusChemAlliance in its statement justified the need to take interim measures by the fact that the execution of a future court decision at the expense of the property of the Linde group of companies in unfriendly jurisdictions is impossible due to sanctions, and Linde is making efforts to withdraw its assets from Russian territory. In addition, Linde's property in the Russian Federation is not sufficient even to enforce the court decision that has already entered into force on the previous claim of RusChemAlliance against the German company.
On RusChemAlliance-Linde dispute
In May and June 2022, Linde notified RusChemAlliance about the suspension of work under the contract (it acted as an EPC contractor and supplied part of the equipment as part of the implementation of the complex in Ust-Luga) due to sanctions imposed by the EU.
The Russian company did not agree with this position, saying that the sanctions do not cover work under the contract. In particular, EU sanctions only prohibit the supply of equipment for liquefying natural gas, but not equipment for gas processing and the construction of a gas processing plant.
Since work on Linde’s part did not resume, RusChemAlliance terminated the contract with the German company and sent it a claim regarding the existence of a dispute. At the same time, a number of banks were also unable to fulfill their obligations to RusChemAlliance and pay bank guarantees due to sanctions. After this, RusChemAlliance filed claims for recovery against Unicredit Bank AG, Bayerische Landesbank, Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Landesbank Baden-Wurttemberg.
Later, the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region fully satisfied the claim of RusChemAlliance against Linde and its structures for a total amount of about 113 billion rubles ($1.2 bln). The court also turned Linde's shares in its subsidiaries in favor of RusChemAlliance. The dispute concerned the collection of debt from Linde under a contract for the design, procurement and construction of a gas processing plant in Ust-Luga. The court also partially satisfied the claim of RusChemAlliance to prohibit Linde from initiating and continuing legal proceedings abroad.