The Russian Federal Property Management Agency last week took control of 26,7 percent of Apatit following a December ruling by a Moscow court, CEO Maksim Volkov confirms, newspaper Vedomosti reports.
The Apatit company, located in and around the Khibiny mountains, is a cornerstone enterprise in the Kola Peninsula. Until 2005, the company was 50 percent owned by Menatep, a Yukos company. Since then, the Russian state has worked hard to regain control over shares in the company, which it argues were sold illegally to Mr. Khodorkovsky and his men.
The state stake leaves the Fosagro with 28,3 percent of the Apatit shares. Other major owners of the company are Acron and Norway’s Yara International, which share a 10 percent stake.
At the same time, the Human Rights Court in Strasbourg has accepted a 34 billion USD lawsuit by the former Yukos management against the Russian state. That is the biggest ever lawsuit in the history of the court, the Moscow Times reports.
Apatit in 2008 had a turnover of 6.4 billion RUB (30 million EUR)
