Court arrests Mirax’s properties on Alfa Bank suit to prevent assets divestment

Alfa Bank is affiliated with the Alfa Group financial empire that is controlled by Mikhail Fridman. According to the court, the basic debt claim was $226mln, while the rest $15.59mln accrued from the interests and penalties for repayment defaults. 

The tense relations between the debtor and the creditor began in July 2009, when Alfa Bank acquired the Mirax Group’s debt obligations at huge discount from Credit Suisse, making the Russian bank the developer’s largest creditor, whose overall debt loads, according to public sources, currently stand at about $600mln. 

Commenting on the issue, Sergey Polonsky, the principal shareholder and board chairman of Mirax Group, called the steps taken by Alfa Bank ‘premeditated systematic actions aimed at divesting and acquiring’ the corporation’s assets. Commenting on the issue, Sergei Polonsky, the principal shareholder and board chairman of Mirax Group, called the steps taken by Alfa Bank ‘premeditated systematic actions aimed at divesting and acquiring’ the corporation’s assets. “Mirax Group turned out to be completely unready for the sudden turn of events around these debt obligations to Alfa Bank.”

In a letter sent to the ‘friend, clients and partners’ of Mirax Group, Polonsky expressed hope for reaching a compromise with Alfa Bank and other creditors that will enable the corporation to carry out all its undertaken obligations, either independently or with the help of a new owner. “In this connection, I am convinced that, even if we are unable to reach agreements with the Alfa Group on restructuring these debts, and as a consequence, Mirax Group comes under a new ownership, the new owner will finance and complete all the corporation’s real-estate objects currently under development.”