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Sintez case against RWE dismissed

March 24, 2015

Russia's Sintez has lost a bid to seek hundreds of millions of euros from German energy company RWE. Sintez was left holding the bag when RWE bolted a takeover scheme in Russia.

https://p.dw.com/p/1Evzw
Jürgen Grossmann, ex-CEO RWE
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. von Erichsen

A court in Essen has thrown out a case against Germany's RWE energy company brought about by Sintez Group, a Russian holding company. Sintez was seeking damages of some 700 million euros from RWE related to bid to jointly acquire Russian power company TKG-2. The court did however allow charges against RWE former CEO Jürgen Grossmann (pictured above).

RWE planned to enter Russia's electricty market when Grossmann ran the company between 2007 and 2012. But it pulled out of the strategic partnership with Sintez in 2008, in the wake of the global financial crisis. Sintez charged that RWE's unilateral action resulted in huge costs for the holding company, bringing its finances in peril.

Sintez, one of the largest privately-owned companies in Russia, is held by Russian oligarch and politician Leonid Lebedev. He already lost the same case against RWE in a London arbitration court. The Essen court ruling can be appealed.

RWE is Germany's second largest energy company. But it is suffering from a crisis brought on by weak demand for energy in Europe and Germany's switch to energy from renewable sources, and is restructuring. It posted its first annual loss ever last year.