Sistema to pay 100 bln rbl to settle claim by Rosneft peacefully

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (PRIME) -- All participants of a legal dispute of Rosneft, Bashneft, the republic of Bashkortostan and multi-industry holding Sistema have signed a peaceful settlement, with Sistema undertaking to pay 100 billion rubles, Rosneft said in a statement Friday.

“Rosneft and Bashneft announce that the board of directors of Bashneft has agreed on the conditions of a peaceful settlement with Sistema and Sistema-Invest. The peaceful deal has been signed by all participants of the court dispute under a case of reclamation of the losses arising from reorganization of Bashneft and will be submitted for confirmation to the Arbitration Court of the republic of Bashkortostan,” Rosneft said.

Sistema will pay the sum no later than March 30, 2018 with support by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Sberbank.

In August, Bashkortostan’s Arbitration Court partially satisfied a 170.6 billion ruble suit filed by Rosneft, Bashneft and Bashkortostan, where Bashneft is located, to charge Sistema and its affiliate Sistema-Invest for the losses allegedly caused to Bashneft in 2014 during its reorganization. In 2014, Sistema was the core owner of Bashneft. Sistema was ordered to repay 136.3 billion rubles, both sides contested the decision.

Earlier in December, Rosneft and Bashneft filed a suit against Sistema and Sistema-Invest seeking redemption of 131.6 billion rubles. The claimants said they want Sistema to repay dividends that it received from Bashneft in 2009–2014 when it was a controlling shareholder of the company. Sistema filed a 330.4 billion ruble suit against Bashneft and Rosneft to the Moscow Arbitration Court.

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday at a meeting with businessmen that CEOs of Rosneft and Sistema were going to meet to negotiate peaceful settlement of their court dispute.

Spokesman for Rosneft Mikhail Leontyev said that the settlement requirement was reduced to 100 billion rubles because an initial 136 billion ruble claim potentially led to bankruptcy of Sistema. He also said that the second court claim was submitted by Rosneft in order to stimulate the negotiations on the first one.

(58.5596 rubles – U.S. $1)

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