Russia freezes Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, UniCredit assets
Russian courts ordered the seizure of UniCredit's and Deutsche bank assets, accounts, property, and shares on May 18, reports Reuters.
The UniCredit assets have been seized following a St Petersburg arbitration court ruling concerning two subsidiaries in connection with a lawsuit over an aborted gas project, according to court documents.
The St Petersburg ruling affects €462.7mn ($503mn) in securities, real estate, and accounts belonging to UniCredit. Additionally, it covers 100% of shares in UniCredit Leasing and UniCredit Garant, both subsidiaries of AO UniCredit Bank, the Italian group's Russian arm, which held €8.67bn in assets at the end of 2023, down from €10.16bn the previous year.
In a statement, UniCredit said the seizure impacted only a fraction of their Russian unit's assets. "The rest of the details we are currently reviewing," the bank stated.
The same court in St Petersburg ruled in favour of seizing $260mn from Deutsche Bank, documents dated May 16 showed.
Both decisions came in answer to a complaint made by RusKhimAlians, which was planning to build a major gas processing and liquefaction plant in cooperation with German company Linde, which pulled out of the project due to Russia's military assault, the Moscow Times reports.
