Nationalisation of Alfa-Bank: Ministry of Justice hires lawyers to defend against Friedman’s lawsuit
17 October 2024 16:55
On 29 May and 9 October, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine signed two contracts with international law firms for legal services. This was reported by Nashi Hroshi with reference to the Prozorro system, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports
This year, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, UK LLP (UK) will represent Ukraine in the case brought by ABH Holdings S.A. (Luxembourg) for 450 thousand euros, and Foley Hoag LLP (USA) will represent CTF Holdings S.A. (Luxembourg) for $89 thousand.
The ultimate beneficiaries of ABH Holdings are Russian citizens Friedman, Aven and Kosogov. In December 2023, the company filed a request for arbitration against Ukraine with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes in connection with the alleged violation of its rights as an investor under the Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union on Mutual Encouragement and Protection of Investments of 20 May 1996. The amount of the claim is $1 billion.
The claim is for compensation for the nationalisation of Alfa-Bank Ukraine.
The Ministry of Justice examined a number of law firms and selected three that had no conflict of interest and submitted the strongest legal memoranda on Ukraine’s defence strategy in this case. These were the British firms Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Allen & Overy and Herbert Smith Freehills LLP.
The first firm offered a price of 450 thousand euros, the second – 775 thousand euros, and the third – no price, saying that it could not continue to participate in the selection. Therefore, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan was chosen. It engaged the Ukrainian firm Asters as a third party.
The British firm’s hourly rates are €480-1,840, and the Ukrainian firm’s are €100-450.
In July 2024, CTF Holdings also filed a request for arbitration with reference to a similar investment agreement dated 26 February 1997. The amount of the claim is $160 million.
This time, the Ministry of Justice chose two firms with no conflict of interest and the strongest legal memoranda on Ukraine’s defence strategy.
These were the American Foley Hoag and Arnold & Porter. The first firm offered a price of $89,000, and the second – $100,000. It engaged the Ukrainian law firm Sergii Koziakov and Partners.
The hourly rates of the American firm are $850, and those of Ukrainian lawyers are $250.
As a reminder, in July 2023, Ukraine nationalised Alfa-Bank Ukraine (now Sens Bank).
The owners of direct substantial shareholding in the bank were ABH Ukraine Limited (Cyprus) and ABH Holdings S.A. (Luxembourg), while the owners of indirect substantial shareholding were Mikhail Fridman, a Russian and Israeli citizen, Piotr Aven, a Russian and Latvian citizen, and Andrey Kosogov, a Russian citizen.
In November 2023, the National Security and Defence Council imposed sanctions on a number of companies associated with Friedman and his partners, including CTF Holdings S.A.
