Yukos Shareholders Go To Law Against Govt

A U.S. based investment fund is rallying minority shareholders of Yukos into suing the Russian government for billions of dollars in damages, Mosnews reported.

Minority investors have seen the value of their share holdings in the Russian oil major evaporate after the company was crushed under the weight of a $28 billion back tax bill.
U.S. investors have lost some $6 billion since the legal assault on Yukos began.

Shipston Group is threatening international legal action, The Moscow Times newspaper reported on Thursday, March 31. It demands the settlement of Yukos? remaining tax bill and the granting of minority shareholders equivalent stakes in Yukos? former core asset Yuganskneftegaz which was effectively nationalized in December.
The U.S. company has already filed a complaint under the terms of the Energy Charter, signed but not ratified by Moscow. In February Yukos? main shareholder Group Menatep started a similar action against the Russian government for at least $28.3 billion.

Shipston fund manager Fran Scola told the paper in an interview: ?We are not on Menatep?s side or the government?s. But we feel we?re innocents who?ve been trampled on in a political battle between two titans.? He added that the fund, which owns some two million Yukos shares, is simply seeking to recoup its losses that have been incurred since it bought the Russian oil company?s ADRs at over $20 per share and saw them sink to just over $2 per share.

Last month Shipston teamed up with investment funds Capital Group and Prosperity Capital Management in a filing to support Yukos? bid for U.S. bankruptcy protection in Houston. Prosperity has also threatened international legal action but so far is still considering its options, Prosperity CEO Mattias Westman, quoted by The Moscow Times, said. ?Our lawyers say we?d have a good chance under the Energy Charter.?

Officials, including Kremlin deputy chief of staff Igor Sechin have not responded to any of the Yukos minority shareholders? appeals.