A Kyiv district court has again placed a restriction
on a 50.3% stake in the shares of Ferrexpo Poltava Mining (FPM), the main production
asset of Ferrexpo (FXPO LN), the company said in a June 19 statement.
Ferrexpo AG will appeal this court order shortly, the
company said. Ferrexpo’s board believes that the appeal should be successful
given that on June 2, the company won its appeal
against the previous restriction on the 50.3% stake in FPM on which Ferrexpo reported in January,
according to the release.
Ferrexpo’s operations remain unaffected as the share
freeze does not affect their ownership but prohibits their transfer, the
company said.
Recall, on June 10 a Kyiv district court allowed for
the arrest of Kostyantin Zhevago, Ferrexpo’s majority owner and former CEO, for the second time after this
court’s previous decision was overturned in an appellate court
on May 25. Citing Ukraine’s State Deposit Guarantee Fund, Interfax-Ukraine said
on June 10 the restriction was related to the criminal investigation into
alleged embezzlement from the failed F&C Bank, in which Zhevago was a
majority owner.
Ferrexpo AG, a fully-owned subsidiary of Ferrexpo plc,
owns 100% of FPM. Zhevago owns 50.3% in Ferrexpo plc.
Dmytro Khoroshun: We believe
Ferrexpo’s previous appellate victory has limited relevance for this latest
restriction. This is because it’s likely a preventive restrictive measure
within a criminal investigation, and the investigators might amend their
arguments when requesting such measures and arguing for them in appellate
hearings.
We see no immediate risks to Ferrexpo’s business from
Zhevago’s legal problems as of now.