Two companies, which together own a 43.6% shareholding in PJSC PhosAgro, have filed lawsuits against Belgium-based Euroclear Bank for a total of about RUB3.4 billion (approximately $34 million at current exchange rates), Interfax reported on Oct. 9.
The lawsuits were filed by Chlodwig Enterprises and Adorabella at the arbitration court in the Kaliningrad Special Administrative Region (SAR), where the two shareholding companies are registered. Kaliningrad Oblast is the westernmost federal subject of the Russian Federation and is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea.
In both claims Renaissance Securities (Cyprus) Ltd. is listed as a co-defendant with Euroclear, according to the report. The claims of Chlodwig Enterprises total RUB1.77 billion and Adorabella RUB1.6 billion. The content of the claims has not been disclosed.
According to PhosAgro’s website, Chlodwig Enterprises owned about 20.31% of the Russian fertilizer group’s shares as of June 30, 2023, while Adorabella owned 23.35% of the shares. Both shareholding companies re-domiciled from Switzerland, where they previously were registered, to the SAR in April 2022 (GM April 22, 2022).
Until April 2022, the two companies were the holding companies through which Russian billionaire Andrey G. Guryev, PhosAgro’s founder and former head, held a majority stake in the Russian fertilizer group, along with members of his family.
Ahead of the new registration, however, the shares in Chlodwig Enterprises and Adorabella were transferred to trusts, the economic beneficiaries of which were Guryev, his wife, and daughter, according to an Interfax report in April 2022, citing PhosAgro’s website. Gurvey’s wife Yevgenia owned an additional 4.82% interest in the fertilizer group.
Gurvey and his son, Andrey A. Guryev, resigned their PhosAgro Board memberships in March 2022 after being included on the European Union’s (EU) expanded list of sanctioned individuals (GM March 11, 2022). Andrey A. Guryev also stepped down as PhosAgro’s CEO.
Last November, Chlodwig Enterprises and Adorabella were added to the US’s “Specially Designated Nationals” (SDN) list.