REUTERS
The applicant company mainly referred to an increase in the value of the enterprise, revenue received by the company in 2005-2007, and the loss of dividends.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has dismissed claims by the Investment-Metallurgical Union (IMU) consortium for the compensation of US$12.9 billion in tangible damage by the re-privatization of Ukraine's largest steelmaker Kryvorizhstal (ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih).
"Having taken into account the government's line of defense, the ECHR has concluded that the applicant company failed to prove that it was deprived of the opportunity to effectively defend its property rights during retrial in national courts. In addition, it did not prove that the withdrawal of the Kryvorizhstal's stake from its ownership had been committed in violation of Ukrainian laws and led to an excessive burden on it. Taking into account the abovementioned, the European Court completely dismissed the applicant company's claims for fair compensation," the Ukrainian justice ministry's press service said on July 5.
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It is noted that the applicant company, which owned 93.02% of Kryvorizhstal's share capital, demanded $12.9 billion (about EUR 10 billion) in compensation for tangible damage, referring mainly to an increase in the value of the enterprise, revenue received by the company during 2005-2007, and the loss of dividends.
As UNIAN reported earlier, 93.02% of state-owned shares of Kryvorizhstal in 2004 were sold for UAH 4.26 billion to the Investment-Metallurgical Union, the participants of which were Ukrainian tycoon Rinat Akhmetov's System Capital Management (SCM) holding and Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk's Interpipe integrated pipe and wheel company.
Subsequently, the shares were returned to state ownership. In October 2005, Mittal Steel Germany GmbH was recognized the winner of a new tender for the sale of Kryvorizhstal's 93.02% stake for UAH 24.2 billion at the starting price of UAH 10 billion.
UNIAN memo. ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih metallurgical plant, owned by Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, is Ukraine's largest integrated steel company and the largest manufacturer of reinforcing bar and wire rod in the former Soviet Union.
The production capacity of a full-cycle steel enterprise is designed for the annual production of over 6 million tonnes of rolled metalware, about 7 million tonnes of steel, and more than 6.7 million tonnes of pig iron.
The key sales markets for the plant's staples are countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
On October 24, 2005, Mittal Steel Corporation acquired 93.02% shares of OJSC Kryvorizhstal at an open tender for UAH 24.2 billion with the starting price at UAH 10 billion. Following that, Kryvorizhstal was renamed Mittal Steel Kryvyi Rih, and later ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih. ArcelorMittal was established in 2006 by a merger of Luxembourg-based Arcelor and India's Mittal Steel, owned by Indian businessman Lakshmi Mittal.