Eurocement ex-shareholder claims $600 mln from former partner

MOSCOW, March 17 (RIA Novosti) - Russian businessman Georgy Krasnyansky is suing his former business partner at Eurocement Holding AG for a total of $600 million, with the latest $35-million claim registered with a Moscow Arbitration Court on Monday.

The latest lawsuit was filed by Krasnyansky’s Cyprus-based GLK Investment Limited against GFI Investments Limited and Eurocement Holding AG (Switzerland), a group of companies owned by Russian businessman Filaret Galchev, according to court materials.

The plaintiff’s lawyer, Svetlana Lipatova, told RIA Novosti on Tuesday that the latest claim refers to the purchase/sale of shares in the private company Golovinskaya Sloboda, the owner of the building that accommodates the office of Eurocement Group, which is the Russian division of Eurocement Holding AG.

Lipatova was unable to name the parties to the agreement but said that Eurocement Group was involved as a third party in the dispute.

According to Russian media reports, the lawsuit claims that Eurocement Holding AG breached a pledge agreement between the parties, which was intended to secure the fulfillment of obligations by the buyer in the deal, and pledged the shares of the holding’s cement plants in favor of Russia’s retail bank Sberbank resulting in a considerable reduction of the holding’s market value.

Lipatova said Krasnyansky had also filed a lawsuit against GFI Investments Limited with a Swiss arbitration tribunal but was unable to name the amount of the claim. It was earlier reported that the plaintiff was claiming about $362 million.

The Swiss claim refers to the $1-billion deal struck in 2007, under which Eurocement Holding AG repurchased shares of Eurocement Group from Krasnyansky’s GLK Investment.

The claim says that the buyer undertook to pay for the shares over a five-year period starting from 2007 but has only partially fulfilled its obligation.

Also, the Moscow Arbitration Court earlier postponed until July 28 a preliminary hearing of the claim filed by GLK Investment Limited on recovering $200 million from Eurocement Holding AG.