Court arrests Goldman Sachs’ 5% stake in Detsky Mir – Kommersant

The Moscow Arbitration Court, at the request of Otkritie Bank, seized a 5% stake in Detsky Mir, owned by the American Goldman Sachs Group. Earlier, Otkritie Bank demanded to recover from Goldman Sachs International, Goldman Sachs Group and Goldman Sachs & Co LLC debts in the amount of 614.7 million rubles. However, Goldman Sachs International refused to fulfill its obligations under the master agreement, referring to the introduction of British and American sanctions against the “Discovery”.

According to court materials cited by Interfax, Otkritie Bank motivated the need for interim measures with information about the alienation of Russian assets by Goldman Sachs, which was reflected in the group’s financial statements. “The evidence presented indicates that the defendants, who are part of a large American conglomerate, the Goldman Sachs group, are taking actions aimed at terminating activities in Russia,” the statement of claim said.

Also, Otkritie Bank demanded to freeze funds on all accounts of Goldman Sachs International in any currency in banks in Russia, including Goldman Sachs Bank, Unicredit Bank and Citibank in the amount of 614.7 million rubles. or an equivalent amount in currency at the official exchange rate of the Bank of Russia on the date of seizure. The bank asked to arrest the same amount from all three defendants – Goldman Sachs International, Goldman Sachs Group and Goldman Sachs & Co LLC – including securities, derivative financial instruments on all accounts with NSD, Raiffeisenbank, Rosbank, Absolut Bank, St. – depository center.

In addition, the bank asked to arrest a 100% stake in Goldman Sachs Group in the authorized capital of Goldman Sachs Bank, as well as 37 million 22 thousand 588 ordinary shares of PJSC Detsky Mir belonging to the group, which is 5.01% in the capital of the retailer.

Following the meeting, the court ruled that the evidence presented by Otkritie confirms the impossibility in the future to recover the property of Goldman Sachs Group, located on the territory of the Russian Federation. In addition, Goldman Sachs Group will not be able to fulfill its obligations to Otkritie in foreign countries due to sanctions imposed against the bank.

The court ruled to arrest only a 5.01% stake in Detsky Mir, stakes in Russian companies owned by the Goldman Sachs III SICAV fund, as well as the property rights of Goldman Sachs & Co in relation to trademarks. Among the companies in which Goldman Sachs owns hundredths of a percent are Sberbank, Aeroflot, Gazprom, Lukoil, Magnit, Tatneft, VTB.

Milena Kostereva