ARKTEL.RU

Yesterday, Moscow Regional Arbitration Court Judge Svetlana Beloded granted the claim of ZAO Lider (managed by NPF Gazfond) against MOITK to recover 997.3 million rubles in debt for 25% minus 5 shares of OAO Arktel. A Vedomosti correspondent attended the court hearing.

JSC "Arktel"

wireline communications operator. Owners: 75% plus 5 shares – RIGroup, 25% minus 5 shares – ZAO Lider. Financial results (2008, RAS): revenue – 1.44 billion rubles, net loss – 239 million rubles.

MOITK offered Lider to buy its stake in Arktel in the spring of 2008, a Lider representative said. Lider began thinking about selling these shares after RIGroup bought the remaining shares in Arktel, a source close to Lider adds. RIGroup and MOITK are not strangers to each other: RIGroup subsidiary RIGroup-finance was the organizer of bond loans for MOITK and other companies belonging to the Moscow Region. Former Finance Minister of the Moscow Region Alexey Kuznetsov is the husband of former RIGroup president Zhanna Bullock. However, a MOITK representative says that the purchase of a minority stake in Arktel was supposed to be a “regular investment” for his company and is in no way connected with relations with RIGroup.

On January 22, 2009, Lider accepted the offer. According to the agreement, MOITK had to pay for the shares of Arktel within 10 banking days, after which the shares were to become the property of MOITK within three days. But Lider has not received the money to this day. And in April, it filed a lawsuit, demanding to recover 997.3 million rubles in debt for the shares.

A representative of MOITK tried to prove in court that the parties had agreed on prepayment, and in this case, without receiving the money, the seller can only terminate the contract and demand that the buyer pay for the damages, but not demand that the transaction be fulfilled. The court did not agree with him. A representative of MOITK told Vedomosti that the company would file an appeal.

If the appellate court upholds the decision of the court of first instance, then the shares of Arktel will be transferred to MOITK, and Lider will receive the right to claim from MOITK.

During the crisis that erupted between the announcement of the offer and its acceptance, RIGroup, MOITK and some other companies belonging to the Moscow region were unable to pay their obligations. MOITK is currently in the process of liquidation. The liquidation commission initiated bankruptcy proceedings, which were suspended by the court on September 1 at the request of one of the creditors. Bankruptcy hearings will continue on September 22. Since February 2009, RIGroup has been under the management of the ORSI group, which announced its intention to initiate bankruptcy proceedings for this company on August 25, 2009.

According to Andrey Zelenin, managing partner of the law firm Lidings, if other courts agree with the decision in favor of Lider, and the bankruptcy of MOITK reaches the stage of bankruptcy proceedings, the shares of Arktel will be sold at auction to fulfill obligations to debtors. Lider will be in the third queue, like the other creditors.

The court ordered the Moscow region to fulfill the offer