The Angers plant recovers €3.7 million from the Polish contractor

Yesterday, the Arbitration Court of the Kemerovo Region began considering the claim of Anzhersky Plywood Mill CJSC (AFK, Anzhero-Sudzhensk) against the Polish company Wiedemann Polska LLC for the recovery of €3.7 million under a general contract. AFK believes that the contractor did not fully fulfill its obligations under the contract, as a result of which the plant was never put into operation.

CJSC Anzhersky Plywood Mill (APK) was founded in 2006 by businessmen from Kuzbass and representatives of Polish companies to build an enterprise with a capacity of 60 thousand cubic meters of plywood, including 30 thousand laminated and 30 thousand birch. In December 2008, the project was included in the priority list at the regional level, and in January 2010 - at the federal level. In September 2010, AFK and the forestry department of the Kemerovo region signed an agreement to lease three forest plots. According to it, the company received plots with an area of 94 thousand hectares for 49 years with a rent of 50% of the minimum rate for the payback period. It is planned to harvest 265 thousand cubic meters of timber per year, including 230 thousand cubic meters of birch. It was assumed that the plant will be launched in 2011.

Yesterday, the Kemerovo Arbitration Court held a preliminary hearing on the plywood mill's claim. His representative Maxim Nesterenko said that a general contract agreement was concluded between AFK and Wiedemann Polska in 2008, according to which the Polish company was to build a plywood plant worth €46.95 million. 85% of the project’s financing was provided by a loan from the Polish BRE Bank, for 15% - with funds from AFK itself. The general contractor was obliged not only to carry out the necessary construction and installation work, but also to ensure the supply of imported equipment. Two years ago, the partnership between the parties was severed, and the obligations of the general contractor were transferred to another Polish company - Redox Production and Service Enterprise LLC.

According to the representative of the plaintiff, under the general contract, the defendant carried out construction and installation work for €28.17 million, imported various equipment for another €13.04 million, while paying €2.94 million in customs duties, and overall fulfilled its obligations for € 44.9 million. Meanwhile, the total financing of the project, according to Mr. Nesterenko’s calculations, amounted to €48.6 million, including €45.8 million from a loan from BRE Bank, and accordingly the general contractor owed the customer 3.68 million (146 .94 million rubles), plus interest for the use of funds (21.64 million rubles). The planned work (mainly installation and adjustment of equipment) was never completed in full. Now the plant is planned to be launched next year, according to Maxim Nesterenko.

It was not possible to clarify the defendant’s position yesterday; a representative of Wiedemann Polska did not appear at the meeting. The company sent a request to the court to postpone the proceedings to a date later than January 15, 2013, citing the fact that it had not received the claim. Maxim Nesterenko explained that all letters sent to the representative offices of the Polish company in Russia (in Moscow and Karelia) were returned. Only correspondence sent to the central office in Warsaw reached us. As a result, the court considered preparations for the trial completed, and set the date of the next hearing, taking into account the defendant’s request, for February 11, 2013.

Igor Lavrenkov, Kemerovo

Plywood flew past the work