OREANDA-NEWS. August 16, 2013. The Federal Arbitration Court of the Moscow District dismissed a cassation appeal of “Gazprombank” OJSC and upheld the ruling of the Appeal Court, which had confirmed legitimacy of the decision of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) to refuse granting a petition of “Gazprombank” OJSC for acquiring 50.9 % shares of “MOESK” OJSC in trust management.

On 28th December 2012, Moscow Arbitration Court allowed the claim of “Gazprombank” OJSC and pronounced the decision of the Antimonopoly Service invalid.

FAS disagreed with the Court judgment and lodged an appeal. The 9th Arbitration Appeal Court supported FAS and reversed the judgment of the Court of First Instance.

The following circumstances constituted the grounds for not approving the transaction: according to the information submitted to FAS, if the transaction takes place, affiliated persons of “Gazprombank” OJSC would breach the prohibition of combining power generation and power transmission services, which, in its turn, would adversely affect the state of competition on the adjacent markets.

Reference:

Article 6 of the Federal Law “On the Specifics of Performance of Electric Power Industry in the Period of Transition” prohibits affiliated persons within the boundaries of the same price zone in the wholesale market to combine power transmission and operational dispatch management in the electric power industry with electric power generation and selling-and-buying activities.