Swordsmyth
12-21-2017, 07:50 PM
In a rare move, Bank of New York Mellon has frozen US$22 billion worth of assets held by Kazakhstan’s sovereign oil wealth fund as part of a years-long legal battle between Kazakhstan and Moldovan investors in Kazakh oil and gas assets, a source told Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kazakhstan-bny-mellon-lawsuit/bny-mellon-freezes-22-billion-in-kazakh-oil-fund-assets-source-idUSKBN1EF0F2) on Thursday.
Moldovan businessman Anatolie Stati and his son Gabriel Stati, along with two companies owned by them, initiated the legal dispute (http://isdsblog.com/2017/04/04/case-summary-stati-ascom-terra-raf-v-kazakhstan/), claiming that they have been subjected to harassment by the state of Kazakhstan over their investment in two oil and gas fields in the country. The claimants said the ultimate goal of the harassment was to force them to sell their assets cheaply.
The investors have refused to sell their oil assets to Kazakhstan, and instead found an external buyer, but the deal never took place because the state took over the oil fields. Kazakhstan has argued that the fields have been badly managed and it had to step in to save the companies.
The Moldovan investors have won an international award of US$500 million against Kazakhstan, which it has refused to pay.
The claimants’ pursuit to receive the payment has lead to some 40 percent of the assets of the oil fund, the National Fund, being frozen, Reuters’ source said.
According to Simon Quijano-Evans, an investment strategist at Legal & General Investment Management in London, freezing assets of a sovereign wealth fund is a very rare move.
More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Bank-Freezes-22B-Assets-Of-Kazakhstans-Oil-Fund.html
Moldovan businessman Anatolie Stati and his son Gabriel Stati, along with two companies owned by them, initiated the legal dispute (http://isdsblog.com/2017/04/04/case-summary-stati-ascom-terra-raf-v-kazakhstan/), claiming that they have been subjected to harassment by the state of Kazakhstan over their investment in two oil and gas fields in the country. The claimants said the ultimate goal of the harassment was to force them to sell their assets cheaply.
The investors have refused to sell their oil assets to Kazakhstan, and instead found an external buyer, but the deal never took place because the state took over the oil fields. Kazakhstan has argued that the fields have been badly managed and it had to step in to save the companies.
The Moldovan investors have won an international award of US$500 million against Kazakhstan, which it has refused to pay.
The claimants’ pursuit to receive the payment has lead to some 40 percent of the assets of the oil fund, the National Fund, being frozen, Reuters’ source said.
According to Simon Quijano-Evans, an investment strategist at Legal & General Investment Management in London, freezing assets of a sovereign wealth fund is a very rare move.
More at: https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Bank-Freezes-22B-Assets-Of-Kazakhstans-Oil-Fund.html