The founders of the terminal in Odesa lost the London arbitration

The founders of GNT Olimpex Holding, Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, must pay $150 million in debt and interest to investors.

This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to a statement from the law firm Madison Pacific Trust.

The international fund Argentem Creek Partners (ACP) won the London arbitration against the founders of GNT, Serhiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko.

The judges ruled and ordered the shareholders of GN Terminal, which owns the port terminal Olimpex Coupe International, Groza and Naumenko to pay about $150 million in principal and interest to Argentem Creek Partners (ACP). The American investors began to borrow this money back in 2019.

“We consider this decision to pay as a clear marker that GNT’s actions are recognized as illegal, and we will continue to make all necessary efforts to establish proper control over the Odesa grain terminal,” said John Patton, a partner at Argentem Creek Partners in London.

The London arbitration judges awarded the payment on January 6, after which an application for recognition of the decision was filed last week in the Southern District of New York.

Law firm Madison Pacific notes that during the litigation and negotiations on debt restructuring in 2022, it was discovered that grain that served as collateral for the loan had disappeared, as well as the facts that Groza and Naumenko transferred control of companies with assets in the port of Odesa to third-party companies for next to nothing. These facts were confirmed after a Ukrainian court appointed an arbitration manager last year to conduct an inventory of assets.

As previously reported by USM, Innovatus Capital Partners reported that grain that was pledged to Innovatus had been stored at the Olimpex grain terminal since February 24, 2022. The investigation revealed that the grain had been looted and sold. The total amount of grain and other stocks is estimated at $25 million.

GNT rejected the accusations and stated that immediately after the start of the war, on February 25, 2022, they informed Innovatus about the impossibility of ensuring the preservation of grain and controlling its quality due to military risks.