The Seventeenth Arbitration Court of Appeal changed the decision of the first instance on the withdrawal of shares from the minority shareholders of SMZ in favor of the state. The prosecutor's office's claim was satisfied only to a part of the shareholders. The exception was made by minority shareholders who were able to prove that they had purchased shares at an organized auction. According to Mosbirzhi, there are more than 1.5 thousand such people.
Photo: "Solikamsk magnesium Plant".
Earlier, the Arbitration Court of the Perm Territory granted the prosecutor's office's claim for the seizure of state-owned shares of JSC Solikamsk Magnesium Plant, Kommersant Prikamye writes.
The first instance found that the property of the Solikamsk Magnesium Plant was privatized in 1992 illegally, without the consent of the authorized state agency. More than 2.1 thousand individuals and legal entities became defendants in the case. A number of shareholders, as well as the Central Bank and PJSC Mosbirzha, disagreed with the decision. The latter believe that the law does not allow to withdraw shares from owners who bought them at organized auctions.
During the appeal hearing in December 2024, a representative of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation stated that the state, represented by PJSC Rosatom, was ready to provide financial compensation to individuals who had acquired shares in good faith. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, more than a thousand minor shareholders of SMZ have signed an agreement with the state corporation on the payment of funds for the withdrawn shares.
Photo: "Solikamsk magnesium Plant".
This case has become a precedent — as a result of the dispute, private investors who purchased securities on the Moscow Stock Exchange almost lost their securities. The prosecutor's office did not consider them bona fide purchasers.
The issuance of an additional issue and its placement on the stock exchange is a complex procedure involving Due Diligence, thorough verification, and not only by professional stock market participants, but also by the Central Bank of Russia, which gives the issuer, so to speak, the green light, he told the publicationAbout Metal" Managing partner of the law firm "Aksenov and Partners" Igor Kelman.
"If it suddenly turns out that the placement of securities on the stock exchange was illegal, where did the registrar look? To whom should the victims file claims — to the issuer, that is, JSC "SMZ", or is there no one to file them at all if his deal to acquire shares is suddenly recognized as null and void for unknown reasons? The very logic of the market economic system is being violated. It turns out that someone bought shares on the stock exchange and, as a bona fide acquirer, invested their funds in the development of the company (as they are called
