Global Ports and FAS Russia came to a final agreement

On December 12 the first container terminal belonging to the Global Ports Group and Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation (FAS) approved a voluntary agreement in the Moscow Arbitration Court. On December 19 Eastern Stevedoring Company, fined by the antitrust agency, approved the voluntary agreement with FAS. The third similar FAS agreement with the Petrolesport was approved on 21 December. Global Ports became the first stevedore, which went to a peaceful settlement of the most complicated dispute with the FAS.

From the beginning to the end ART DE LEX lawyers followed through Global Ports. Global Ports concluded peace agreements with FAS in court, accusing three port terminals of the company of abuse of the dominant position and the establishment of monopolistically high prices for transshipment of containers. The group was also ordered to set economically feasible tariffs for transshipment with a marginal profitability level, which had never been practiced before, and to transfer them from dollars to rubles.

The conditions of the voluntary agreement are not disclosed. However, General Director of Global Ports Mikhail Loganov told the press that the settlement agreement had no negative consequences for the financial situation of the company. "We are satisfied with the terms of the agreement and the procedure for switching to rubles in the cases established by the agreement," he said.

In April, the service ordered the Petrolesport to transfer 4.17 billion rubles from the provision of related services, two more terminals of the group received instructions on transferring their revenues - 1.27 billion rubles for Petrolesport and 1.6 billion rubles for Eastern Stevedoring Company.

Thus, the total amount of property sanctions imposed by FAS on the Group amounted to 7 billion rubles and became the second largest in the history of antimonopoly enforcement in Russia. All decisions and orders on these cases were challenged in court by Global Ports, ending them with the approval of mutually acceptable international agreements. FAS head Igor Artemyev explained: "The agreement with Global Ports means that the tariff policy changes in favor of consumers, from the dollars stevedores will come out gradually and fulfill a number of other standard requirements of the FAS."

By the way, the bill proposed by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is considering the possibility of postponing the transfer to settlements in rubles before 2025 for stevedores with currency obligations taken for investment in the infrastructure of seaports.
The compromise agreement of Global Ports with the FAS was achieved with the support of the lawyers of the antitrust practice ART DE LEX who continue to advise the Group on the application of the law on the protection of competition from 2010. Antimonopoly competence of the Firm is one of the strongest, repeatedly outlined by the market and independent ratings. Last week ART DE LEX leadership in the sphere of antimonopoly proceedings was again confirmed by the inclusion in the first group of industry practice of the main national legal PRAVO.ru-300.

"The settlement agreement with the Federal Antimonopoly Service for Global Ports is a set of agreements through which one of the industry leaders not only significantly reduced the size of the initially excessive monetary penalty, but also minimizes the risk of possible violations of the antimonopoly legislation in the future due to a balanced system of behavioral obligations that satisfy FAS and do not impose unreasonable restrictions on the company in the conduct of business, "- says Partner, Advocate, Head of Competition Practice Yaroslav Kulik.

Other participants of the project include: Advocate, Head of group Kirill Dozmarov, lawyers Anna Mitroshkina and Elizaveta Savina.

Reference

Global Ports manages five container terminals in the Northwest and in the Far East of Russia with container turnover of 670 thousand TEU in the first half of the year and two in Finland. Revenue under IFRS in the first half of the year was $ 162.5 million, EBITDA - $ 97.3 million, net loss - $ 11.9 million (against profit of $ 113.4 million a year earlier). Net debt is $ 1.03 billion, 30.75% of the shares of the Dutch A.P. Moeller-Maersk A / S through APM Terminals B.V., another 9% - from Ilibrinio Establishment Limited and Polozio Enterprises Limited.