LONDON (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) and Commerzbank (ETR:CBKG) have won an injunction in London stopping a subsidiary of Russian gas giant Gazprom (MCX:GAZP) from suing the lenders in Russia over an aborted gas project.
RusKhimAlyans, which is 50% owned by Gazprom, filed lawsuits in Russia seeking more than 22 billion roubles ($22 million) from Deutsche Bank and over 8 billion roubles from Commerzbank over unpaid bank guarantees.
The lawsuits were brought after German industrial gases company Linde stopped work on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga in 2022 due to Western sanctions, imposed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank both said they were unable to pay RusKhimAlyans due to European Union sanctions.
They have now each been granted an "anti-suit injunction" preventing RusKhimAlyans – named RusChemAlliance in court filings – from pursuing its case against the banks in Russia, according to two rulings published on Wednesday.
Deutsche Bank was granted the injunction on Sep. 7 by the Court of Appeal, which ruled RusKhimAlyans' Russian lawsuit was brought in breach of an arbitration agreement.
Commerzbank was granted an interim injunction by the High Court on Aug. 31, according to a judgment published on Wednesday.
The ruling said UniCredit (LON:0RLS) had also been granted an anti-suit injunction against RusKhimAlyans following a private hearing.
Deutsche Bank and RusKhimAlyans declined to comment. Commerzbank and UniCredit did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
RusKhimAlyans had signed a deal with Linde in 2021 for the construction of the gas plant, with Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and UniCredit providing guarantees.
Linde halted work on the project in May 2022, having been advised that the export of LNG would breach European Union sanctions.
RusKhimAlyans has also sued Linde in Russia, where a court in January ordered nearly $500 million of Linde's assets be frozen.