Ukrainian court freezes interests of Deripaska firms in Mykolaiv Alumina Refinery

MOSCOW. July 1 (Interfax) - The Perechyn District Court in Ukraine's Zakarpattia region has frozen the participatory interests held by LLC Guardon Ukraina and LLC Aluminum of Ukraine Company in LLC Mykolaiv Alumina Refinery.

The Zakarpattia Appeals Court upheld the ruling, the Ukrainian Liga.Business publication said.

According to the Unified State Register of Court Rulings in Ukraine, the Perechyn District Court issued the ruling on March 30, granting a plea from a prosecutor at a department of the Prosecutor General's Office to seize property and seize the participatory interests held by the two LLCs. The Appeals Court upheld the ruling on May 31.

UC Rusal suspended production at Mykolaiv (Nikolaev) Alumina Refinery in March, attributing the decision to logistics and transport problems in the Black Sea and neighboring regions.

Mykolaiv Alumina Refinery, Rusal's second largest alumina asset, produces 1.7 million tonnes of alumina per year, or about 20% of the company's total output.

The businessman Oleg Deripaska, who has been hit by Western and Ukrainian sanctions, remains the refinery's ultimate beneficiary, according to the Ukrainian Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs. According to the state register, he is the beneficiary of two co-owners of the refinery, LLC Guardon Ukraina and LLC Aluminum of Ukraine Company.

Ukraine imposed sanctions against UC Rusal and the affiliated company Judson Trading Limited (Cyprus) in October 2016. The prohibitive measures to block assets include the temporary restriction of the entity's right to use and dispose of property, restriction of trade operations in Ukraine, prevention of the withdrawal of capital from the country and suspension of economic and financial obligations, as well as a ban on the public procurement of a number of goods and services, a total or partial ban on transactions with securities with persons subject to sanctions, and a ban on the National Bank of Ukraine from making a number of payments.

RusAl also owns a stake of around 29% in Ukraine's Zaporizhia Aluminum Plant, in which 68.01% of the shares have been returned to the state, which Rusal is challenging at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.