THE SUPREME COURT FOUND PREMATURITY IN THE COMPLETION OF THE BANKRUPTCY OF ANGSTROM INVEST

On December 26, 2022, the Economic Board issued a ruling on case no. A40-81667/2019. The complaint was sent to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation by Zenit Bank, which is one of the two creditors of Angstrom Invest. The credit institution was not satisfied with the verdicts of the courts, who considered that all the creditors' claims in the case were satisfied.

On September 24, 2019, the Moscow arbitration court declared the company insolvent. The initiator of the process was the company Horizon Global Consulting, which had previously won a lawsuit to recover 1 million from the defendant (case No. A40-292216/18-55-2333 ). The debt to the second creditor (Zenit Bank) was secured by a pledge of securities.

The pledge was issued for 24.99% of the shares of Angstrom JSC in the amount of 25 million units. Their nominal value was 12.5 million. At the same time, the amount of debt on loans turned out to be more than 1 billion.

In the summer of 2020, the arbitration court issued a ruling. It stated that the bank's claim was not monetary. The dispute between the credit institution and the manager arose precisely on the issue of the sale of shares at auction. In July 2021, the initial value of the shares was estimated at 616 million and approved in court. But it was not possible to sell shares, there were no people willing to buy securities.

Already during the bidding process, the company "Legal Support" applied to arbitration, wishing to fully repay the creditors' claims, including 12.5 million rubles to Zenit Bank, indicated in the register. And although the arbitration initially rejected the firm's application, the appeal then satisfied it. The bankruptcy process was terminated in 2022, and the courts considered the creditors' claims satisfied, referring to the provisions of articles 113, 125 and 138 of the Insolvency Law.

The Supreme Court, dealing with the complaint of Zenit Bank, recalled that there is a significant difference between the nominal and market value of the mortgaged property. At the same time, the payment of the estimated value of the collateral does not mean that the creditor's claims are satisfied.

Exactly how much the mortgaged property is worth can be decided only after its sale and actual receipt of revenue. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation drew attention to the fact that as a result, no court had determined the real market value of the shares, and therefore it was not worth it for the courts to terminate the bankruptcy proceedings. As a result, the acts passed by the lower courts were canceled by the Board of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, and the lawsuit was sent for a new consideration.

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