Zara tells court plans to restart retail operations in Russia

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (PRIME) -- A representative of Zara CIS, the Russian unit of Spanish clothes retailer Zara, told the Arbitration Court of the Samara Region that the company planned to restart operations in the country after changing jurisdiction, the court said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The claimant (Zara CIS) states that it will not leave the Russian market, that it plans to restart the retail operations. The defendant is now taking steps to continue operations in the Russian Federation including a change of incorporation to a jurisdiction that is not seen as unfriendly,” the court said.

Zara CIS plans to change the logistics chains so that the sanctions no longer block them, the court added.

LLC Viktor I Co Mega Park, the owner of several large malls, earlier filed a suit against Zara CIS wanting the company to redeem around 513 million rubles of rental payments, fines, and losses. In September, the Arbitration Court of the Samara Region froze money on Zara’s accounts with Rosbank, Raiffeisenbank, HSBC Bank, and Otkritie Financial Corporation Bank as a provisional measure.

Zara CIS asked the court to cancel the decision as it thought that it had been made using media reports about Zara leaving Russia as the ground, while Zara CIS actually wanted to restart operations in Russia. The court leaved the accounts frozen as the defendant only promised to restart operations without providing any proving documents.

(61.7634 rubles – U.S. $1)

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