Russian court seizes assets of Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, UniCredit

A court in St. Petersburg has ordered assets, accounts, property and shares of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank to be seized in Russia as part of a lawsuit involving the German banks, court documents showed.

The banks were among the guarantor lenders under a contract for the construction of a gas processing plant in Russia with Germany’s Linde, which was terminated due to Western sanctions.

The lawsuits were filed by St. Petersburg-based RusChemAlliance, a joint venture 50% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom, which is the operator of the project.

The St. Petersburg arbitration court has barred Deutsche Bank from exercising its 100% interest in the authorized capital of its Russian subsidiary, as well as Deutsche Bank Technology Center LLC.

The court has also imposed the seizure of up to 238.6 million euros ($259 million) in securities, real estate and bank accounts of Deutsche Bank, as well as its Russian subsidiary and Deutsche Bank Technology Center.

Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt said it had already provisioned around 260 million euros for the case.

“We will need to see how this claim is implemented by the Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia,” the bank said in a statement.

The court also seized Commerzbank’s assets worth 93.7 million euros ($101.85 million) as well as securities and the bank’s building in central Moscow.

Commerzbank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Russian court on Friday ordered UniCredit’s assets, accounts and property, as well as shares in two subsidiaries, be seized as part of a parallel lawsuit.