Sergei Bakeshin commented for Novy Prospect the position of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in the bankruptcy case of Sevkabel

Sergei Bakeshin - Counsel

On August 12 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation granted the petition of Elena Savchuk, the arbitration manager of “PK Sevkabel” LLC, and suspended the execution of two judicial acts of the lower instances: The Arbitration Court of the North-Western District and the 13th Arbitration Appeal Court. It should be recalled, that in December 2020 by the decision of the court of the first instance Savchuk was approved as the bankruptcy manager of “Sevkabel”, and the requirements of the bank “Trust”, which initiated the bankruptcy proceedings, were found reasonable and included in the third order of satisfaction. However, other creditors of the bankrupt plant succeeded in successfully appealing against this decision in the court of appeal and succeeded in having “Trust’s” claims subordinated to them. Then the bankruptcy manager was replaced: Kirill Pestryakov was appointed instead of Elena Savchuk. This decision was upheld by the court of cassation, but was suspended by the Supreme Court.

Sergey Bakeshin, Head of Dispute Resolution and Insolvency Practice at Maxima Legal, drew the attention of Novy Prospect to the fact that “such a hectic procedure of appointment of bankruptcy manager is rare: usually courts maintain stability of bankruptcy procedures and do not change managers back and forth”.

The expert also noted that the execution of the appealed judicial act actually took place, because Kirill Pestryakov has started working long ago.

According to Sergei, this ruling of the Supreme Court fundamentally changes the balance of power in the bankruptcy case of “Sevkabel” and returns the status quo that existed in the case from December 2020 to early April 2021 (before the 13th Arbitration Appeal Court’s decision).

“Consideration of the appeal may take several months. During this time, the judge of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation returned not only the authority of the first bankruptcy manager Elena Savchuk, but also the status of a full creditor to the bank “Trust,” – explained the specialist.

To read the full article (in Russian) please visit Novy Prospect website >>>