Italcementi/Siberia Cement dispute heads to Supreme Arbitration Court, Russia

Italcementi, one of the world's largest makers of cement, expects to see its dispute with Russian cement maker Siberian Cement over a EUR 50mn forfeited commitment fee to go before Russia's Supreme Arbitration Court. The Italian company may see its appeal denied one more time by the Russian court.

Back in 2008, SibCement won an auction to buy Italcementi's cement assets in Turkey for USD 850mn. The deal was duly approved by SibCement's Board and shareholders, and the Russian company paid the commitment fee of EUR 50m to the Italian cement major.

However, SibCement's core shareholder Oleg Sharykin chose to walk away from the deal, overruling both the Board and a shareholders' general meeting. As a result, SibCement forfeited the commitment fee and made another EUR 4mn paid to ING in advisory fees go to waste. Sharykin is suing Italcementi for a refund of the commitment fee. (Source: Politics & Government Week, Russia)