UNIAN
The Supreme Economic Court of Ukraine did not satisfy a claim of Ukrainian Chemical Products towards the State Property Fund for signing a new lease agreement with regard to the integral property complex Irshansk state mining and processing plant, Ukrainian online information Web site Nashi Groshi (Our Money) has reported.
The court found that in September 2004 the State Property Fund signed for five years a lease agreement with CJSC Crimean Titan with respect to the mining and processing plant without the right of redemption. In January 2012, the parties extended the contract until September 2014, while agreeing to sign it "retroactively" in September 2009.
Three months before the expiration of the lease the State Property Fund requested that the lease holder begin preparations for the return of the property. In turn, Crimean Titan stated its intention to use its priority right to rent, which was refused by the fund.
The representative of the State Property Fund in court said that based on the orders of Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, it was decided that after the end of the lease period the property would be used by the plant for its own needs.
Currently, the activities of the plant are managed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, while the right to its property belongs to the state enterprise United Mining-Chemical company.
Having considered the case, the Supreme Economic Court agreed with the decisions of the courts of previous instances that the property complex of Irshansk mining and processing plant has not been transferred to rent and remains in state ownership. Therefore the court decided to reject the claim of Ukrainian Chemical Products (known previously as Crimean Titan and renamed in March 2015 after change of registration) regarding the violation of its priority right to rent the plant.
Ukrainian Chemical Products is part of Group DF owned by Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, who until September 2014 had control of Ukraine’s two largest producers of ilmenite ore - Irshansk mining and processing plant and Vilnogirsk mining and metallurgical complex.
They comprised the production basis of Crimea Titan, the production facilities of which remained in the Crimea after its annexation by Russia, and for the other company - Zaporizhzhia titanium and magnesium plant, a 49% share stake of which is owned by Tolexіs Trading Limited of Dmytro Firtash.