Ukraine’s oligarch sold his shares in Ukrainian iron ore plant to russian businessman

Kolomoisky sold shares in the Kryvyi Rih iron ore plant to russian businessman Voevodin. PrivatBank is looking for the money received for the asset.

The shares in the Kryvyi Rih iron ore plant (KZRK), part of which is managed by oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, actually changed ownership. NV Business writes about this with reference to the decision of the High Court of London.

PrivatBank is looking for the money received as a result of the agreement for the sale of 50% stake in the Kryvyi Rih iron ore plant (KZRK) to Russian Mikhail Voevodin.

The High Court of London handed down a decision on strengthening a court order on a WFO (Worldwide Freezing Order) of the former owners of PrivatBank, Ihor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov.

Prior to the nationalization of PrivatBank, Ihor Kolomoisky entered into an unusual agreement with Russian businessman Mikhail Voevodin. Kolomoisky sold Voevodin his shares in the iron ore plant. At least Voevodin was named among the ultimate owners of KZRK in 2019-2020 in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs.

A judge in London agreed with the arguments of the PrivatBank representative that the agreement testified to the existence of close relations and a high degree of trust between Kolomoisky and Voevodin.

At the same time, it is emphasized that Kolomoisky continues to manage the mines. It is still not clear from the court records whether Voevodin ever made even one payment in compensation to Kolomoisky for the sale of shares. 

Now the WFO can be applied to transactions carried out in the last 5 years, that is, after the introduction of the worldwide asset freeze. “This applies to dividends, their distribution or other income, as well as bank accounts,” the press service of PrivatBank commented on the decision.

According to data as of the end of 2021, the main shareholder of KZRK was Starmill Limited (Cyprus), which owns 99.8812% of its shares.

Through a Cypriot company, KZRK belongs to the “Metinvest” group of Rinat Akhmetov and Vadym Novinsky, as well as to the “Privat” group of Ihor Kolomoisky and partners, which carries out the operational management of the enterprise.

The enterprise specializes in underground mining of iron ore. It produces sinter ore with an iron content of 56-63.5% for the production of agglomerate, as well as blast furnace ore with an iron content of 46-50% for the production of cast iron.

Ukraine Front Lines

Tags: Kolomoisky Kryvyi Rih iron ore plant Voevodin