UPDATE: Court rejects holding expert appraisal in Sistema–Rosneft case

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MOSCOW, Jul 19 (PRIME) -- The Arbitration Court of the republic of Bashkortostan has rejected a motion of multi-industry holding Sistema requesting to hold an expert appraisal of the economic impact from reorganization of oil company Bashneft under a 170.6 billion ruble suit of oil major Rosneft, according to information obtained by PRIME in the court on Wednesday.

Sistema based the necessity of the expert appraisal saying that the reorganization eliminated the “looping character of share ownership,” which made Bashneft more transparent and allowed for an initial public offering (IPO) of the company. A representative of Sistema said that sales and cancellation of shares were prerequisites for placement at the London Stock Exchange.

The representative said that the reorganization led to no losses of Bashneft given the estimate of 49.4% that Bashneft owned in Sistema-Invest, an affiliate of Sistema, at a book value of 25 billion rubles, instead of 57 billion rubles included in the suit of Rosneft.

Before the reorganization, Bashneft owned 25 billion rubles shares in Sistema-Invest and the latter company had a 36.9 billion ruble debt to Bashneft, but after the reorganization Bashneft received its shares worth 81 billion rubles from the company, the person said.

Representatives of Rosneft said that the expert appraisal is unnecessary as Sistema started planning the IPO of Bashneft after the reorganization had been finished so it is irrelevant. “If the defendant thinks that the claimant did not ground the loss, then it is a basis for a denial of the suit, not for a financial and economic appraisal. There is no need to drag on the process and to hire an expert only to add two and two,” the person said.

Sergei Kopytov, an official representative of Sistema, said that the company will challenge the denial of the motion.

Sistema’s representative also asked the court for a financial and economic appraisal of the 49.4% stake owned by Bashneft in Sistema-Invest. “Since the claimants are raising the issue about the market value of the package, we are unable to define the actual market value of the shares, so the question needs a special expertise,” the person said.

The court delayed the hearing of the case to Thursday.

Rosneft filed the suit in May, seeking to recover a loss stemming from alleged asset withdrawal from Bashneft in 2009–2014 by Sistema.

(59.3705 rubles – U.S. $1)

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