Bank Vostochny: Baring Vostok announces seizure of shares

Baring Vostok, which is controlled by Evison Holdings Limited, commented on Vostochny Bank's announcement that a large shareholder had terminated the right to dispose of a substantial share of voting shares. The press service of the fund explained that Evision did not reduce its ownership in Vostochny Bank, but part of the voting shares was arrested at the suit of Finvizhn as part of the ongoing corporate conflict in the bank. In early August 2020, the head of the bank's board officially announced that instead of 41.6% of the share in the authorized capital of Evison Holdings Limited (the final beneficiary of US citizen Michael John Calvey), only 9.32% can be disposed of. The message specified that the reason for the decrease in the participation in the issuer as a result of the prohibition of the right to vote at general meetings. Recall that a year ago, the court granted the claim of Finvizhn holdings to sell her almost 10% of the bank's shares. The Cyprus company had to execute the decision. Also, the arbitration of the Amur Region has not yet fully considered the bank's lawsuit against Evison Holdings Limited and Michael Calvey to recover 9 803 837 474 rubles. This amount was claimed by the plaintiff as losses caused during the period when Evison was the majority shareholder. In particular, for the mass dismissal of former employees of Uniastrum Bank, the applicant counted the defendants more than 8,19 billion rubles of losses, for repayment of a loan to the bank by transferring subordinated bonds of the bank itself in violation of issue documents, requirements of the Bank of Russia and at an inflated price of more than 528 million rubles, and for concluding agreements with LLC National Service for the provision of Eastern services, which, according to the plaintiff, were paid, but in fact did not turn out, 1.082 billion rubles. In this dispute, the arbitration in the fall of 2019 seized 334 212 114 332 ordinary registered shares of the bank, which belong to Evison Holdings Limited. The next hearing on the case is scheduled for September 7, 2020. For reference: the bank was created in 1991 and fell into the media bulletin in the light of scandal and a criminal case. It was initiated after the repurchase of bank shares from a commercial company.