Russia’s Alfa-Bank has been accused by Crimean Vodka Company (CVC) of a “corporate raiding” plot to take hold of the liquor firm, one of Ukraine’s largest producers of spirits.
CVC’s British owner, Neil Smith, says Alfa-Bank subsidiaries Empire and Eutilia have been fighting for control of the spirits company since October last year.
Empire this month lost a court case in which it claimed 1.8bn hryvni ($220m) off CVC as compensation for alleged missed incomes.
However, Smith fears the conflict is likely to go on. CVC argues that this endangers the future of its 2,500 employees and threatens to leave Crimea’s administration without some of its incomes – CVC says it provides about one quarter of the peninsula’s tax revenues, and that last year it paid about $125m in regional taxes and levies.
