On May 23, the Northwest Appeal Economic Court upheld the appeal complaint of "West Oil Group" LLC. and cancelled the order of the Economic Court of Volyn Region of April 1, 2019 (case No. 903/62/19), which satisfied the statement by "Alfa-Bank" to secure the claim and arrested all movable and immovable property of "West Oil Group" Ltd.
On April 1, 2019, the Economic Court of Volyn Region, within the framework of this case, satisfied the claim of "Alfa-Bank" and decided to collect jointly from "West Oil Group" LLC, "WOG Trade" LLC, "WOG Retail" LLC, and "WOG Retail" LLC. (connected with the fuel stations network WOG, ed.) USD 7.84 million and UAH 76.8 million of debt under the agreement on the opening of the credit line No.12-В/13 of May 13, 2013.
"Alfa-Bank" argued for its statement to secure a claim with a "high indebtedness" of the defendants to banks, and because they "are in a difficult financial situation" (quotes).
As "Alfa-Bank" noted, "additional evidence of the inability of the defendants to fulfill monetary obligations to other banks is their request for debt restructuring, as evidenced by publications from Internet resources," as well as "the lack of funds in defendants to the extent, necessary for fulfillment of obligations to the plaintiff, including confirmation by certificates about the balance of accounts opened in "Alfa-Bank" JSC" (quotes).
The court of appellate instance, after consideration of the issue of securing the claim in this case, stated that the estimated value of the arrested property was UAH 518 million, which exceeds the sum of claims, "and therefore, the measures cannot be considered commensurate with the claims declared by the plaintiff" (quotation).
Also, the Northwest Appeal Economic Court noted that "solely reference to negative financial results, numerous defendant`s loans and arrears under the contract, is not an adequate justification of the grounds for securing the claim" (quotation).
Background
As Finbalance wrote, on March 27, 2019, the State Economic Court of Volyn Region has satisfied the claim of "Naftotrade Resource" LLC to "West Oil Group" LLC (in case No. 903/825/18) and decided to collect from the defendant in favor of the plaintiff UAH 260 million of debt under a percent-free financial assistance agreement on a reverse basis No. 01/12/16-П of December 1, 2016.
At first, the claims of "Naftotrade Resource" LLC amounted to UAH 460 million, but subsequently, they were reduced to UAH 260 million "due to partial repayment of the debt" in the amount of UAH 200 million.
In the State Register, the final beneficiaries of "West Oil Group" LLC are Roman and Sofia Yeremeyevy (children of Ihor Yeremeyev), Stepan Ivakhiv, and Sergei Lagur. These same individuals appear to be the final beneficiaries of "Naftotrade Resource" LLC. They control the WOG fuel network.
As Finbalance wrote, the financial company "Frank Point", which purchased the right to claim of the Forum Bank under the loan agreements №1-0020/13/30-КL and №1-0021/13/30-КL in the amount of UAH 1,76 billion with a discount of 77% (32 WOG gas stations in the pledge) from the Deposit Guarantee Fund in February, refuses from the previously filed lawsuits of the Deposit Guarantee Fund to the structures connected with the WOG network in relation to collection of debts.
According to the court materials, "FC Frank Point" LLC concluded contracts with "Zoloty Ekvator" LLC and "VK Impeks" SPE on amendments to loan agreements №1-0020/13/30-КL and №1-0021/13/30-КL, according to which the term of repayment of debt is prolonged until December 31, 2019.
At the end of January 2019, "Oschadbank" started the procedure for financial restructuring of debts of "WOG Trading" LLC and related to it "Import Trans Service" LLC. The criminal proceedings file No. 12018030010000938 referred to contracts for the opening of unsecured letters of credit by "Oschadbank" for $ 20 million for a company associated with the WOG network. In addition, in the materials of criminal proceedings No. 12018100060002418 appeared information that on August 18, 2014, "WOG Trading" LLC received a loan from "Oschadbank" in the amount of USD 20 million on the basis of the agreement line No. 124/48-1.
In September 2018, the WOG gas network announced that "Ukreximbank" had restructured its debt for a period of 15 years. The sum of the debts was not specified. At the same time, the materials of the Economic Court of Rivne Region of October 1, 2015, concerning the case No. 918/861/15 on the bankruptcy of "Trading House "Continium-Galychyna" LLC provided information that "Ukreximbank" declared creditor claims to the said structure in the amount of UAH 657.2 million. However, the court dismissed them, considering that "Ukreximbank", "Wog Retail" LLC and "Trading House "Continium-Galychyna" LLC signed an agreement on the transfer of debt on December 1, 2015.
In September 2018, the WOG network also reported that FUIB restructured its debts for a period of 10 years (the amount of debt was not specified).
Read here about the creditor`s claims of Firtash group to the WOG network, and here - about the claims of Novinsky company.
Read here about the litigation dispute between WOG network and the State Fiscal Service.
Read here and here about "milky" debts of the "Continium" group before "Ukreximbank".
Read here about "milky" disputes of the "Continium" group with State Fiscal Service.
Read here about the need of the "Bank of Investments and Savings" (also controlled by the "Continium" group, as well as WOG network) to cover the capital deficit in the amount of UAH 1 billion on the results of the stress test.