Reports of the appearance of a new shareholder in Cyprus-based Nemiroff Holding Limited published by Ukrainian mass media are untrue, while Nemiroff Vodka Limited (British Virgin Islands) remains its legal owner, a partner of Astapov Lawyers, Yevhen Blynov, who defends some shareholders in Nemiroff Vodka Limited in various litigations, has said.
“Nemiroff Vodka Limited owns Nemiroff Holdings Limited. The structure
of shareholder in Nemiroff Vodka Limited has not changed. Oleksandr
Hlus is the holder of the largest stake (25.04%),” Blynov said.
Earlier, the Holos Ukrainy parliamentary newspaper published an
announcement that read that Nemiroff Holdings Limited in the person of
its sole director and shareholder Oleg Lesan had canceled all powers of
attorney and orders issued in the period from February 2005 to June 14,
2013.
Blynov told Interfax-Ukraine that an attempt of Lesan to take the
said powers is the continuation of a corporate conflict between the key
shareholders in Nemiroff Vodka Limited – Hlus on one side and Yakiv
Hrybov and Anatoliy Kipish on another side.
“A new attempt to replace top managers of the company was illegally
made, and now to replace its shareholder. Lesan was illegally registered
as a shareholder, the sole director and secretary of Nemiroff Holdings
Limited in the Cypriot register of companies, in violation of the
requirements of corporate laws and the ownership right of Nemiroff Vodka
Limited,” the lawyer said.
He said that Hlus, learning about the illegal changes in the
structure of directors and shareholders in Nemiroff Holdings Limited,
appealed to a court in Nicosia (Cyprus), which appointed the external
receiver to prevent the illegal reshuffling of owners and managers of
the subsidiary companies of Nemiroff Holding.
The lawyer said that on June 3, 2013, the court of Cyprus satisfied the claims of Hlus and canceled the powers of Lesan.
“At present, Cypriot law-enforcement agencies are investigating into
the case and trying to identify the grounds and the initiators of the
illegal changes of the shareholder and director of Nemiroff Holdings
Limited, Blynov added.
Nemiroff Company is one of the largest global alcohol producers. Its
production facilities include two distilleries in Nemyriv (Vinnytsia
region). The total projected capacity of bottling lines is 72,000
bottles an hour or 120 million liters of alcohol a year.
The conflict over the company between shareholders has lasted for several years.
The Higher Economic Court of Ukraine in spring 2013 suspended a
ruling of Kyiv Economic Court of Appeal of March 19, 2013, under which
Director General of Nemiroff Ukrainian Vodka Company Alla Hlus was
dismissed from his post.
The Higher Economic Court of Ukraine declared illegal a meeting of
participants in Nemiroff Managing Company LLC on April 26, 2011
initiated by some shareholders, as well as the decision to liquidate the
company and replace its head Oleksandr Hlus.
