March 3 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday that it intends to appeal a legal decision to impose external administration over the assets of Danube Logistics, the operator of Giurgiulesti International Free Port in Moldova.
The bank is deeply concerned by the order of a bailiff in Chisinau on February 25 and will continue to seek to protect its rights as a senior secured creditor, it said in a press release.
The EBRD is currently the largest creditor of Danube Logistics, as well as the primary economic beneficiary of Danube Logistics Holding BV’s shareholding in Danube Logistics.
In EBRD's view, the appointment of an external administrator by the bailiff interferes with the running of the company, having a direct negative impact on its ability to continue to operate and repay its debts, as well as conflicting with its legitimate interests as a lender holding security over the shares in Danube and as an economic beneficiary of those shares.
Separately, the EBRD has joined proceedings in several court cases centred on Danube's ability to make payments to its parent company, upstream dividends and/or sell its shares. None of these cases are founded on monetary claims against Danube or the company’s ability to manage its day-to-day business affairs, but revolve around a personal claim of Bemol Retail, a third party, on a former general manager of Bemol, the bank said.
In a separate statement issued on Wednesday, Danube Logistics said that Moldovan bailiff Roman Talmaci has appointed a new manager at Danube Logistics, following a court decision in favour of Retail Bemol, under the pretext of debt collection from one of the beneficiaries of the company.
Danube also said that Bemol is controlled by a former investor in Danube Logistics - Azerbaijani citizen Rafiq Aliyev. Since 2014 multiple claims of Aliyev’s companies demanding the nullification of the sale of their shares in Danube Logistics to Danube Netherlands in 2011 have been dismissed by Moldovan and international courts, it added.
Since September 2019 Bemol attempts, through the intermediary of bailiffs, to take control of the Danube Netherland’s shareholding in Danube Logistics, according to the company.
The bailiff ignored vehemently the fact that the sole shareholder of the Moldovan company is the Dutch company Danube Logistics Holding BV (Danube Netherlands), while the main beneficiary of the shareholding of Danube Netherlands in Danube Logistics is the EBRD, Bemol said.
"On the basis of a participation agreement the EBRD is, as of today, entitled to 65% of eventual shares sales and dividend proceeds that Danube Netherlands derives from its shareholding in Danube Logistics," the company added.
"We condemn and appeal in court against the scandalous actions of the bailiff that may be qualified as a disguised expropriation of one of the most important foreign direct investments projects in the Republic of Moldova," Danube Netherlands director Mathias von Tucher said.
Danube Logistics, a Moldovan limited liability company, is the general investor and operator of Giurgiulesti International Free Port. In December 2004, Danube signed an investment agreement with the Government of Moldova for the construction of Giurgiulesti International Free Port.