Sberbank seeking 1 billion rubles from online retailer Ozon for breaking off unnamed agreement

State-owned Russian bank Sberbank is demanding one billion rubles (about $12.6 million) from the online retailer Ozon for terminating an agreement between the two companies in September 2020. This was reported by Ozon in an IPO notice sent to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The statement does not specify what agreement with Sberbank the company is referring to.

“We do not believe that we are required to pay any break-up fee,” the notice says. “Should Sberbank of Russia continue to pursue the payment of the break-up fee and should we be unable to amicably reach a resolution, the final amount of a break-up fee, if any, will be determined in arbitration proceedings.”

• In June, Reuters reported that Sberbank was in talks to buy a 30 percent stake in Ozon. A few days after this report, Ozon’s co-owner, AFK Sistema, talked about finding an investor who “would support the online retailer’s growth.” That said, no agreements between the state bank and the online retailer have been reported.