Court hears purchase proposal for Shell's stake in PCK
This Tuesday, the Berlin Administrative Court will hear the purchase of shares in the PCK Schwedt oil refinery in north-eastern Brandenburg. The Austrian company Alcmene GmbH is taking legal action against the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and believes it is still on the hook after a failed deal to acquire Shell's 37.5% stake in the refinery.
The investment in PCK did not materialize in 2021 because the PCK majority shareholder Rosneft, a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned company Rosneft, had exercised a right of first refusal. As a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022, however, this became invalid. The federal government took control of the PCK majority shareholder Rosneft Deutschland through a trust administration in order to become independent of Russian oil.
The parties involved did not wish to comment on the proceedings before the administrative court. The dispute is complex: Alcmene concluded a purchase agreement with Shell in the summer of 2021. According to the court, the project had been registered with the Federal Ministry of Economics for the purpose of the investment review, but Rosneft then wanted to acquire the shares itself via a right of first refusal. Alcmene had therefore declared the investment review procedure to be irrelevant, but then re-submitted the transaction for approval after the start of the war in Ukraine, the administrative court stated. Shell then terminated the contract with Alcmene. The Austrians therefore initiated arbitration proceedings. According to the court, in autumn 2022 the Federal Ministry of Economics no longer saw any basis for examining the sale of PCK shares to Alcmene, meaning that the deal was not approved. The Austrian company filed a lawsuit against this.
The commercial law firm representing Alcmene has so far declined to comment. Alcmene GmbH is part of the Estonian Liwathon Group, which claims to be involved in the acquisition of energy infrastructure assets. Rosneft Deutschland GmbH, which is under the trusteeship of the German government, holds a majority stake of 54 percent in the Schwedt refinery. Shell owns 37.5 percent and Eni 8 percent.
Despite the failed investment in PCK's shares in 2021 due to Rosneft's right of first refusal, oil processes at the refinery continued uninterrupted. The ongoing dispute between Alcmene GmbH and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy revolves around energy-related issues, specifically the potential purchase of Shell's oil stake in PCK.
Source: www.dpa.com
