Rusal to challenge Ukrainian ruling on smelter shares
MOSCOW. May 19 (Interfax) - UC Rusal will challenge a Ukrainian court ruling on the re-nationalization of 68% of the shares in the Zaporizhiya Aluminum Smelter (ZALK), the Russian aluminum giant said in a statement.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said the Kyiv Economic Appeals Court on Tuesday reversed a ruling by the Kyiv Economic Court which dismissed a plea by the Prosecutor General's Office to return the 68.01% stake in ZALK that is owned by the Rusal-controlled Velbay Holdings Limited to the Federal Property Fund.
"In connection with the statement of the state prosecutor's office of Ukraine, UC Rusal informs that the current decision has not come into force the smelter is controlled as before by UC Rusal and there is no talk about nationalization," Rusal said.
"This situation refers to the long-running legal process, yesterday's ruling is only one of its stages. UC Rusal won this case at the previous level of jurisdiction. The company will exercise its right to challenge the ruling in Ukraine's Supreme Commercial Court," it said.
The ruling would cancel agreements for the sale of the stake to Russia's CJSC Avtovaz Invest back in 2001 and later to Velbay Holdings. Rusal says it had nothing to do with the original sale in 2001 and bought the shares in good faith: it received the Zaporizhiya plant when Rusal was formed in 2007.
The last time the Kyiv court refused to return the shares to the state was at the end of December 2010.