Rosneft structure withdraws lawsuit disputing legality of SG-Trans privatization
MOSCOW. Oct 31 (Interfax) - Rosneft subsidiary RN-Trans has withdrawn a lawsuit in which it disputed the legality of the privatization procedure for SG-Trans, the judge said during hearings at the Moscow Court of Arbitration.
Earlier this week, at the request of AFK Sistema , the court cancelled its previously rendered ruling on interim measures under the lawsuit.
Sistema won the tender for 100% of SG-Trans on September 27, offering 22.7 billion rubles for the asset. However, Rosneft disagreed with the results of the tender. Its structure RN-Trans filed a lawsuit against the organizer of the tender - LLC Renaissance Broker - at the Moscow Court of Arbitration, demanding that the restrictions on its participation in the privatization be declared illegal.
Meanwhile, on October 24 the court satisfied RN-Trans' motion to impose interim measures on the privatization process for SG-Trans, prohibiting Renaissance Broker from performing further procedures to sell the railway operator's stock.
This process was a topic of discussion at a recent government session dedicated to the privatization program.
"From time to time, companies with state participation attempt to get into privatization deals and put a stop to them, sometimes even in court. But we rely on legal norms, and we are proposing a government resolution [limiting the participation of state-owned companies in privatization] that will rely on legal norms. All of these attempts to suspend the privatization process via the use of judicial procedures are in no way a transparent or appropriate procedure. We will resist them and report back to you separately," First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said at the session.
"If such cases occur, then the management of state-owned companies should understand all of the consequences, including in interactions with the government," Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said at the session.
