Foreign beneficiaries claim hundreds of millions of rubles of Russian energy assets. The company Power Solutions nv, registered in the Belgian Weinegem, tried to present large financial claims to the enterprises of the Alliance Generation holding, working on the order of Rosneft structures at the Barsukovsky field in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. The Belgians, among other things, reported leased gas generators, which, according to them, disappeared from the sites of the operators. At the same time, payments for the use of expensive equipment were not made for several years. However, in Alliance Generation, as well as in Alliance-Energy affiliated with it, these claims are categorically rejected. And in the course of proceedings in several instances, serious suspicions surfaced of intentions to implement “gray schemes” against the backdrop of the bankruptcy of a controlled company and plans to withdraw liquid property in the amount of up to a billion rubles. And although Power Solutions has already suffered a defeat in two instances, the “western partners”, in all likelihood, decided to go all the way, appealing the last ruling in the cassation.
The Arbitration Court of the Moscow District began considering the cassation appeal of the Belgian company Power Solutions nv against the decision and resolution of the previous instances regarding the dispute with Alliance Generation LLC and Alliance-Energy LLC, operating at the Barsukovsky field in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, operated by RN-Purneftegaz .
The plaintiff expects to recover from the defendants more than 383.1 million rubles of debt under concluded lease agreements, more than 62.6 million as a penalty, and also to obtain the return of 14 Cummins gas piston units previously purchased by Power Solutions for 609 million rubles from Trade Center LLC.
To clarify, LLC Alliance Generation, registered in Moscow, is currently in the stage of bankruptcy proceedings. The company specializes in the production of electricity, and the same Belgian Power Solutions nv and IS Industrials Solutions Ltd registered in Cyprus (in equal shares of 50%) act as its founders.
During the trial, it turned out that back in June 2017, the Belgian company entered into a lease agreement with Alliance Generation, under which it transferred 14 gas generators with a capacity of 1925 kVA each for the implementation of the Badgers project in the YaNAO. This fact was reflected in the acceptance certificates, as well as the insurance contract with Sogaz.
Subsequently, the equipment was transferred under the power supply contract to Alliance-Energy LLC, under which Alliance Generation was obliged to supply electricity and capacity. Apparently, for several years, the fate and circumstances of the operation of the leased Power Solutions units did not bother.
However, in 2021, the Belgians stated that they had not received payments for a long time (since 2019), and soon filed an application with the Moscow Arbitration Court. An important nuance is that by the time of the lawsuit, Alliance Generation had been declared bankrupt for more than six months.
It is also noteworthy that the act of acceptance and transfer of property was not submitted directly to the court, although representatives of Power Solutions assured that the installations were located at Alliance-Energy and were used to supply the technical facilities of RN-Purneftegaz. Moreover, when studying the contract, it turned out that it lacks the characteristics that allow identifying the gas piston units to be transferred, as well as their actual number and terms of use.
In August last year, an inspection was carried out on the territory of the Alliance-Energy gas piston station, in which representatives of the plaintiff, as well as RN-Purneftegaz and the operator took part. Oddly enough, it turned out that there was no equipment with serial numbers presented by the Belgians on the site.
Meanwhile, the arbitration pointed out that the key condition for recovering property from someone else’s illegal possession is the possibility of its individualization and identification, and only an individually defined thing can be the object of vindication, which was not found in this case.
On the contrary, Alliance-Energy demonstrated in arbitration documents proving that all the equipment operated at Barsuki belongs to it, and not to the Belgian company, by right of ownership. Thus, the court decided to refuse to satisfy the claims for the return of the installations, as well as to collect the rent.
In addition, the arbitration noted that “the plaintiff is the founder of Alliance Generation LLC in the amount of 50%, the management company of Alliance Generation LLC, Alliance Energy Group JSC, is the main participant (94.7% share in the authorized capital) Alliance-Energy LLC, forming the structure of the Alliance Generation LLC holding, moreover, “the ultimate beneficiary, who does not have the appropriate formal powers, is not interested in disclosing his status as a controlling person and tries to disguise, as such, the possibility of influencing the debtor.”
Based on this, other noteworthy points were revealed during the proceedings. “The plaintiff’s appeal <...> testifies to actions aimed at a significant and artificial increase in the debtor’s receivables, which, as a result, will cause significant damage to bankruptcy creditors in the bankruptcy case of Alliance Generation LLC. <...> The court concluded that the plaintiff’s will was actually aimed at withdrawing the debtor’s liquid assets – cash in the amount of 383,133,704 rubles and disputed property, taking into account that <...> the plaintiff applied to the court after accepting the application for recognition of the LLC Alliance Generation went bankrupt on September 22, 2021, while, according to the plaintiff’s position, the disputed debt arose from 2019, ”the documents state.
The Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal confirmed the original decision, and now the parties are entering a new round of cassation. Meanwhile, the interlocutors of the agency in the professional community express their own opinions regarding the conflict.
“Under the current conditions, Western “partners” are leaving the market, but they are trying to take everything they can take with them. Of course, it is unlikely that such a scheme was developed by the Belgians themselves, rather, their managers in Russia suggested it. But the situation itself is interesting. Against the backdrop of the bankruptcy of his own company, withdraw assets, trying to convince everyone of the loss of expensive equipment for 600 million. And taking into account rental payments, it comes out to under a billion. A good gesheft on the remains of the office. By the way, I wonder if they knew about this in the structure of Rosneft, which works at Barsuki, ”conclude experts who worked in the northern fields.
