Russia seizes £600 million in assets from Deutsche Bank and UniCredit

The arbitration court in Saint Petersburg ordered on 16 May the seizure of real estate, securities, and accounts in Russia amounting to £400 million from Italy's second-largest bank, UniCredit. A similar decision was made on the same day against Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank. The seizure order concerns its real estate, securities, and accounts amounting to £206 million.

Both decisions were made at the request of the RusChemAlliance corporation, founded by the Russian gas giant Gazprom, which planned to build a large gas processing and liquefaction plant near Saint Petersburg.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the corporation lost its partner – the German company Linde, which was supposed to supply equipment for the project. UniCredit and Deutsche Bank were guarantors of this venture, but due to sanctions, they could not fulfil their obligations to RusChemAlliance.

In the summer of 2023, the Russian company filed a complaint with the arbitration court in Saint Petersburg, demanding that both banks pay hundreds of millions of pounds from the bank guarantees provided for in the obligations.

Deutsche Bank responded in a press release, "We will need to see how this claim is implemented by the Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia." Meanwhile, UniCredit stated that the bank is aware of the Russian court’s decision and assured that it is "thoroughly examining" the situation.

UniCredit, previously one of Russia's most actively operating European banks, began "preliminary" talks in May 2022 regarding the possible sale of its Russian subsidiary, but the project has stalled. The Italian bank has been present in Russia since 2005.