MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian court has ordered the recovery of almost 15 billion roubles ($185 million) from Belgium’s Euroclear in a lawsuit filed by First Asset Management, the former division of Russia’s largest lender Sberbank confirmed on Monday.
International sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine conflict have blocked many Russian investors’ access to securities held in jurisdictions outside the country, while Russian countermeasures have frozen Western funds within.
Russian court filings on Friday showed that First Asset Management’s lawsuit had been partially satisfied. Euroclear declined to comment.
First Asset Management said that the court had granted it claims in 12 currencies for a total amount of slightly less than 15 billion roubles.
The Vedomosti daily, which first reported the news, said the ruling included claims granted for $161.5 million, 19.9 million euros and smaller amounts in British pounds, Australian dollars, Canadian dollars and Swiss francs.
“The court granted our claims for damages in accumulated coupon income and redemption amounts on bonds, as well as share dividends on securities owned by our clients that have been frozen by the defendant,” First Asset Management said.
The plaintiff’s previous effort to recover around 165 billion roubles from Euroclear was rebuffed by a previous court decision, the RIA news agency reported in April.
($1 = 80.6955 roubles)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Elena Fabrichnaya; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
