Gazpromneft-Yamal OOO

Core of the Case

The bankruptcy trustee challenged the debtor’s set-offs with Gazpromneft-Yamal as preferential transactions. The amount of claims was more than 600 million rubles. The so-called “set-offs” were made six months before the debtor’s bankruptcy application was accepted. According to the then common court practice, the most likely outcome of the case was the recognition of set-offs as invalid transactions with preference over other creditors of the debtor and the recovery of more than 600 million rubles in bankruptcy estate.

Scope of Services

The firm represented the client in all judicial instances. To strengthen our position, we involved outstanding Russian scientists to solve new doctrinal issues that the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has just begun to face (netting theory).

Achievements, Results, Importance, Significance of the Project

The court of first instance and the court of appeal satisfied the application. In the Arbitration Court of the Moscow District, we succeeded in canceling the judicial acts and sending the case back for a new trial. In this project, we managed to convince the Court of Cassation of the possibility of netting the mutual grants of the parties under interrelated agreements aimed at the implementation of one economic project (in this case, the construction of an oil collection facility). Since January 2018, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation began to develop the theory of netting, which allows summing up mutual settlements under a single legal relationship without the risk of subsequently challenging these settlements in a bankruptcy case of one of the parties. This case is another step towards the development of this theory. In this project, we managed to convince the Court of Cassation of the possibility of netting the mutual grants of the parties under interrelated agreements aimed at the implementation of one economic project (in this case, the construction of an oil collection facility). In the court of first instance and the court of appeal, when considering cases in a new round, it was possible to review the initially lost case and save a significant amount of money for the client. When considering the case “on the second round” and as a result of the formation of new approaches in judicial practice in cases of challenging bankruptcy transactions, we managed to convince the court to apply the netting theory to the client’s case. This actually meant that there was no violation of the order of satisfaction of the claims of other creditors by challenged transactions and the need to resolve the case in favor of the client. As a result of our work, the client saved 1 billion rubles. This case serves as a key element in forming and developing new and important judicial practice in the field of challenging bankruptcy transactions in Russia.

Case File

А40-176252/2016