Key Takeaways
- A Russian court has seized Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank's assets in Russia.
- The seizure includes up to €238.6 million in Deutsche Bank's assets and €93.7 million in Commerzbank's assets.
- The lawsuit is related to a terminated contract for a gas processing plant in Russia with Germany's Linde.
A Russian court has ordered the seizure of Deutsche Bank’s and Commerzbank’s assets, accounts, property, and shares in Russia, following a lawsuit involving the German banks.
The banks were guarantor lenders under a contract for the construction of a gas processing plant in Russia with Germany’s Linde, which was terminated due to Western sanctions.
The lawsuits were filed by St Petersburg-based RusChemAlliance, a joint venture 50% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, the operator of the project.
The St Petersburg arbitration court has barred Deutsche Bank from exercising its 100% interest in the authorized capital of its Russian subsidiary, as well as Deutsche Bank Technology Center LLC.
Additionally, the court imposed the seizure of up to €238.6 million in securities, real estate, and bank accounts of Deutsche Bank, its Russian subsidiary, and Deutsche Bank Technology Center.
Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt stated it had already provisioned around €260 million for the case.
The bank said in a statement:
We will need to see how this claim is implemented by the Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia.
Commerzbank’s assets worth €93.7 million, as well as securities and the bank’s building in central Moscow, were also seized.
Commerzbank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a parallel lawsuit, the Russian court also ordered the seizure of UniCredit’s assets, accounts, property, and shares in two subsidiaries.
