By Elena Fabrichnaya
MOSCOW (Reuters) -A Russian court has lifted interim measures that effectively banned Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International from selling its Russian subsidiary, RBI and a lawyer for the bank’s Russian unit, Raiffeisenbank, told Reuters on Tuesday.
The court’s decision could bring RBI closer to finding a way to exit Russia, which the bank says it has been working on for more than three years since Russia launched the conflict in Ukraine.
But finding a suitable, non-sanctioned buyer remains a challenge, and banks face extra regulatory hurdles, including needing personal approval for any deal from President Vladimir Putin.
“This now removes just one of the hurdles towards a sale of the Russian unit, while others remain – such as regulatory approval from Russian authorities,” RBI said in response to a request for comment.
“We have continuously worked on the sale all while the ban was in place, and continue to do so now that the ban has been lifted.”
A Russian court had in June rejected RBI’s bid to lift the injunction, the result of a lawsuit brought by Russian investment firm Rasperia after a collapsed deal in which RBI was ordered last year to pay around 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in damages.
The bank’s dispute with Rasperia followed the failure of a deal that RBI hoped would allow it to unlock some of its frozen assets in Russia. RBI had sought to buy a stake in Vienna-based construction company Strabag, but pulled out under pressure from Washington.
Rasperia said the struggle was not over, as it may yet have to face challenges outside of Russia, where it is harder for it to defend itself due to sanctions on Moscow.
“This case is a clear example of how, in complex conflicts and when attempts to exert external pressure are made, Russian courts effectively protect the rights of Russian investors from illegal actions by foreign counterparties,” said Rasperia’s lawyer, Igor Ozerskiy of K&P Group.
Anastasia Taradankina, a lawyer for Raiffeisen’s Russian subsidiary from Russian law firm Delcredere, confirmed that the court’s interim share seizure had been overturned.
“We have done everything, and the measures were lifted,” Taradankina told Reuters.
According to court filings, the measures were lifted on August 4.
RBI swung to a loss in the second quarter after a 1.2-billion-euro ($1.4-billion) writeoff over the legal dispute in Russia, it said last week.
($1 = 0.8667 euros)
(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Sharon Singleton, David Holmes, Giles Elgood, Rod Nickel)
