The economic court in Kyiv on April 22, 2014 upheld a claim of Swissport International Ltd. (Switzerland) against a subsidiary of Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) Interavia LLC and declared invalid the decision of shareholders in Swissport Ukraine LLC and the approved changes to its regulations on the replacement of the owner, reads a press release of Lavrynovych & Partners law firm which represented the interests of the Swiss company in court.
“It should be noted that the challenged decision of the UIA general
meeting approved changes to the statute under which Swissport’s 70.6%
stake at Swissport Ukraine was fully transferred to UIA, and the company
itself was renamed as Interavia. These changes were made on the basis
of courts’ rulings which were later nullified by the Higher Economic
Court of Ukraine on appeal by Swissport International Ltd.,” reads the
press release.
Thus, the economic court restored Swissport International Ltd.’s corporate rights in the charter capital of Swissport Ukraine.
As reported, Swissport International entered the business in 2006,
after acquiring a stake in its handling agent, when UIA was under state
control.
In Dec. 2012, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine permitted UIA
to buy the stake in the share capital of Swissport Ukraine.
Court litigation between the companies started in early 2013. On
Oct. 2, 2013, the Higher Economic Court of Ukraine canceled a ruling,
under which Swissport International Ltd. from April 27, 2013 lost
ownership rights to Swissport Ukraine LLC, the control over which was
transferred to UIA. The case was sent for a repeated hearing by the
court of first instance.
Swissport International Ltd. provides ground services for around 118
million passengers and 3.5 million tonnes of cargo a year on behalf of
some 650 client-companies in the aviation sector. With a workforce of
around 40,000 personnel, Swissport is active at 181 stations in 37
countries on five continents, and generates annual consolidated
operating revenue of CHF 1.9 billion.
