New creditor of VW's debt to Gorky Automobile Plant seeks to initiate automaker's bankruptcy
NIZHNY NOVGOROD. Aug 13 (Interfax) - Russian joint-stock company Kameya, which purchased the right to claim a debt from Volkswagen (VW) from the Gorky Automobile Plant in the amount of 16.9 billion rubles following a legal dispute between the automakers, intends to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the German carmaker.
A notice from Kameya of its intention to file a petition with the Moscow Arbitration Court to declare VW bankrupt has been posted on the Fedresurs platform. The automaker's debt is confirmed by a ruling of the Nizhny Novgorod Region Arbitration Court in a lawsuit by the Gorky Automobile Plant against Volkswagen for damages and lost profits, the notice said.
Kameya became the procedural successor of the Gorky Automobile Plant as creditor by signing an assignment agreement with the plant for the right (claim) to the amount of the debt awarded by the court. For the transfer of the monetary claim right, Kameya paid the Gorky Automobile Plant 120 million rubles, according to the arbitration case materials.
The decision to replace the creditor procedurally was issued by the Nizhny Novgorod Region Arbitration Court in May this year. Volkswagen tried to appeal it but was unsuccessful.
The writ of execution for the collection from Volkswagen of the debt awarded by the court was issued by the Nizhny Novgorod Region Arbitration Court in December 2024.
JSC Kameya was established in January 2025 with a charter capital of 10,000 rubles, with its main business activity being the operations of holding companies.
As reported, in July 2024 the Nizhny Novgorod Region Arbitration Court ruled to collect 16.9 billion rubles in damages and 40,000 euros in debt from VW in favor of the Gorky Automobile Plant, partially satisfying the Russian plant's claim. The appeal upheld the ruling in December of the same year.
The Gorky Automobile Plant had demanded 28.4 billion rubles from VW, including 2.5 billion rubles in actual damages (investment in preparing the production of cars with VW engines) and 5.2 billion rubles in compensation for distributor claims related to the non-delivery of such cars. In addition, the plaintiff sought to recover 20.7 billion rubles in lost profits due to the disruption of serial production of vehicles with VW engines.
The legal dispute arose from disagreements between the parties regarding the classification of their framework agreement on the supply of VW-produced engines. Concluded in 2017 and not legally terminated, the agreement has in fact not been performed since 2022. Under the agreement, the Gorky Automobile Plant prepared production for cars that were to be equipped with VW engines, released a small number of them and carried out their refinement. According to the plant's representative in court, in 2021 the plant planned to start commercial sales of this modification, but VW did not fully fulfill the plant's engine order, and from 2022 deliveries stopped entirely.
VW, citing Swiss law, argued that the signed agreement did not oblige the company to supply engines without orders confirmed by both parties, and did not recognize the Russian plant's right to recover damages for investment in production within the cooperation framework originally envisioned by the agreement.
In August 2022, the Gorky Automobile Plant and VW terminated their contract assembly agreement, with the German company paying its Russian partner 4 billion rubles. However, in spring 2023 Avtozavod GAZ LLC (now Avtozavod NAZ LLC) initiated a series of legal proceedings against its former partner.
Until March 2022, the Gorky Automobile Plant's facilities assembled Skoda models (Octavia, Karoq and Kodiaq) and the Volkswagen Taos.
Volkswagen owned the plant located in the Grabtsevo industrial park in Kaluga, which has a production capacity of 225,000 cars per year. In May 2023, the German automaker sold its Russian assets for 125 million euros to the Russian company Art-Finance, headed by former president of the Avilon dealership holding Andrei Pavlovich.
