Subsidiary of Rosneft filed two lawsuits against Gazprombank
The essence of the conflict is not completely clear, but there are certain guesses. JSC “Rospan International” requires 1.4 billion payments under the guarantees of “Gazprombank”.
Earlier, the gas producing asset of Rosneft had a dispute with the contractor Vostokneftezavodmontazh, which is related to the oil and gas group of Khalit Bikmukhametov. Rospan International is demanding 5.2 billion. It is also known about the ban on operations from Gazprombank. As for “Vostokneftezavodmontazh”, it “merges” itself in the Arbitration Court of Bashkortostan – a bankruptcy case has started.
The practice of having their own banks in industries in Russia originated at the beginning of the “dashing 90s”. Gazprombank was founded by Viktor Chernomyrdin, whose grandson’s estate was taken away for his father’s debts.
Cooperation with Gazprom gave the bank a certain head start in the niche. By the way, there were many applicants for his place. For example, “Imperial”, “Promstroibank”, and a number of others tried to “befriend” the monopolist, assisting in every possible way in its operations. The place of Gazprombank seemed so heavenly that they tried to move the financial institution, even though it was considered a depositary and shareholder of the gas concern.
Yury Lvov was the chairman of the board of the bank at the beginning of its formation. Subsequently, he decided that his institution deserved maximum autonomy from the patron. To this end, purges of personnel were carried out, cooperation with other industries was established, and the first bonds were issued. The extreme step gave rise to a rumor that Gazprombank would become public. When the bank stopped lending to Gazprom at the first click, the concern had no choice but to put competitors into the game. As a result, Lvov “resigned” from office. And Andrey Akimov, who previously managed the Austrian Investment Management & Advisory Group, took his place.
Those familiar with Akimov’s management style say that his strategy was one of overexpansion. Rumor has it that behind the eyes of the manager they call the “general of the active reserve” of one special service. The team recruited only familiar and trusted people. The same approach was practiced in the selection of investment bankers.
Since 2003, Gazprombank began to buy other people’s assets. Received 16% of Renaissance Capital from Mosenergo, became the owner of a 5% stake in RAO UES. The bank spent 3 billion on the implementation of the external borrowing program. All this was not easy for Gazprom. I had to limit myself to a loan in the amount of 650 million, and also get accounts in subsidiaries.
