Businessman Ihor Kolomoiskyi is seeking to recover about UAH 3 billion in debt from the AeroSvit airline (Kiev), which is affiliated with him but is no longer in operation, through the courts. The Interfax Ukraine news agency reported this, citing a ruling by the Kyiv Regional Economic Court, the text of which is published in the Unified State Register of Court Judgments.
A bankruptcy case against AeroSvit brought by the Tenak limited liability company (Dnepropetrovsk) is under consideration. "Based on a decision of the Kyiv Regional Economic Court dated 4 March 2015, bankruptcy proceedings were launched against AeroSvit, a moratorium was imposed on meeting claims from its creditors, procedures for disposition of the debtor’s assets were introduced, and arbitration manager Leonid Talan was appointed as the administrator of the assets," the document states.
However, on 30 March, the court received from Kolomoiskyi a petition to approve a creditor’s claim for UAH 2.992 billion from the debtor. The petition was accepted for consideration, but its consideration was postponed to mid-May on 22 April.
After examining the materials of the bankruptcy case and hearing arguments from the participants in the case, the court concluded on 15 May that the creditor’s claim from Kolomoiskyi was justified because pursuant to the terms of a suretyship agreement that was concluded between the businessman and Privatbank (Kolomoiskyi owns shares of this Privatbank), the obligation to pay AeroSvit’s debt under legal credit relations between the airline and the bank were fulfilled at the request of the latter, as a result of which the right to demand fulfillment of the respective obligations transferred to Kolomoiskyi.
In addition, an agreement on provision of interest-free, repayable financial assistance was signed between Kolomoiskyi and AeroSvit on 16 November 2012, under which the businessman gave the airline UAH 102 million until 15 November 2013. However, AeroSvit did not repay the money within the stipulated period, as a result of which a penalty of UAH 186.15 million was levied.
The court decided to accept Kolomoiskyi’s petition to approve his creditor’s claim to AeroSvit. "Approve Kolomoiskyi’s cash demand from AeroSvit in the following amounts: UAH 1,218 - the first installment of the creditor’s claim; UAH 2.806 billion - the fourth installment of the creditor’s claim; UAH 186.15 million - sixth installment of the creditor’s claim," the court’s ruling states.
As reported, AeroSvit was the largest carrier in Ukraine until it left the market at the end of December 2012 after applying for bankruptcy protection, but its application for bankruptcy protection was later rejected by a court. Currently, the airline does not operate flights. The Kyiv Regional Economic Court re-launched bankruptcy proceedings against AeroSvit on 4 March 2015.
