November 3, 2023 – A long-running legal dispute over the ownership of a Russian ammonia producer, Togliattiazot (“ToAZ”) is also being played out in Cyprus. An oligarch, Dmitry Mazepin, is attempting to shift assets from Cyprus to Russia – in breach of Cyprus law.
Since 2005, ToAZ has been the target of attacks by corporate raiders. The most recent raider is Dmitry Mazepin, who not only owns a rival company Uralchem, but is also sanctioned by the EU as an associate of Vladimir Putin.
In a classic case of corporate raiding, or ‘reiderstvo’ as it is termed in Russia, Mazepin seized control of the company after he illegally replaced the ToAZ Board of Directors in 2021 with his own proxies.
The true majority shareholders of ToAZ, which are four offshore companies registered in the Caribbean, are seeking approximately $2.1 billion in damages.
Read more at: Fertilizer oligarch flouts Cyprus law, Cyprus Business News, 3 November 2023.
(Also available in Greek: Ολιγάρχης με εταιρείες παραγωγής λιπασμάτων παραβιάζει την κυπριακή νομοθεσία)
