Italy to discuss Russian move to seize UniCredit assets

Rome — Italy’s foreign minister and officials will meet on Monday to discuss Russia’s action to seize assets or impose restrictive measures on Italian companies including UniCredit, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

On Friday, a Russian court ordered that UniCredit’s assets, accounts and property, as well as shares in two subsidiaries, be seized as part of a lawsuit over an aborted gas project in Russia involving the Italian bank, court documents showed. 

The ruling by a St Petersburg arbitration court covers €463m in securities, real estate and accounts belonging to UniCredit, as well as 100% of shares in UniCredit Leasing and UniCredit Garant.

The court also ordered that Deutsche Bank’s and Commerzbank’s assets, accounts, property and shares be seized in Russia. The lawsuit was filed by St Petersburg-based RusChemAlliance, a joint venture 50% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, which is the operator of the project.

Last month, the Russian subsidiary of Italian water heating company Ariston was placed under the temporary management of an entity of Gazprom as ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin through a decree.

The sources said on Sunday that the legal action against UniCredit and the difficult situation of other Italian companies with Russian operations would be debated at a meeting on Monday convened by Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani.

Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank were among the guarantor lenders under the contract for the gas processing plant with Germany’s Linde, which was terminated due to Western sanctions.

The court has imposed the seizure of up to €238.6m of Deutsche Bank assets, as well as its Russian subsidiary and Deutsche Bank Technology Center.

Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt said it had already provisioned about €260m for the case.

Commerzbank’s assets affected in the move were valued at €93.7m. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reuters