Moscow Court of Arbitration put off the preliminary hearing of Interstate Bank's claim against chemical giant of Armenia, Nairit Plant, till December 11, Russian Legal Information Agency said.
Nairit was the only plant in the Soviet Union to produce chloroprene rubber. The plant was closed in 1989 for environmental reasons and resumed operating partially in 1992. The Interstate Bank demands that Rhinoville Property Limited pay back $25.183 million. The hearing was postponed for lack of information on summons served, RIA Novosti reported citing the Russian Legal Information Agency. Previous hearings were postponed because of different reasons.
The bank claims $16.764 million which Rhinoville Property Limited took from the $70-million credit line that the bank opened for the company in 2006 and $8.419 million as penalty.
Earlier ArmInfo reported that Rosneft Company is interested in buying the company. However, the year- long negotiations have not resulted in an agreement due to the plant's debts. Itera Company, which Rosneft acquired a full control of, had also studied trust management of Nairit Plant with the Armenian Government. Itera was once the holder of a 10% stake in ArmRusgasprom Company. Later, the Russian monopolist Gazprom CJSC acquired its shares.
In 2006, 90% of Nairit's shares were sold to British RHinoville Property Limited for $40 million. The remaining 10% belong to the Armenian government. RHin®ville Property Limited was set up by Polish Samex, US Intertex and Russian Eurogaz . In April 2010 the plant stopped producing rubber. Before the halt, it sold its products chloroprene rubber- to EU countries, Russia (about 30% of the exports), the United States and 20 other countries.
The Interstate Bank was founded in 1993 by ten CIS countries - Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan and Ukraine. The Interstate Bank operates with a 100-percent presence of the state capital of its members. The bank promotes development of CIS member countries' economies.