The Commercial Court of Kyiv canceled the order by which Novinsky was returned to the register as a beneficiary of the companies Smart-Holding, Ukrgazvydobutok and Regal Petroleum.
The holding company Smart Holding (Cyprus) LTD won in the first instance the court against the Ministry of Justice with the demand to recognize the change of beneficiaries of its Ukrainian enterprises. This was reported in the decision of the Commercial Court of Kyiv dated May 27. At the beginning of 2023, it became known that businessman Vadym Novinsky transferred his assets to a trust and ceased to control the activities of the investment and industrial group Smart Holding. According to the company’s statement, the new owners of Smart Holding are the Cypriot Smart Trust and Step Trust, the beneficiaries are five Cypriot citizens: Andreas Sophokleous, Elena Iona, Konstantina Alkiviadus, Harula Sophokleous, Aphrodite Loukaidou.
Agreements on the transfer of the business to the trust were concluded in November 2022, shortly before the introduction of NSDC sanctions against Novinsky. A few months later, on April 10, 2023, the Ministry of Justice canceled the registration actions regarding the change of the ultimate beneficial owners of LLC “Smart-Holding”, PrJSC “Ukrgazvydobutok”, LLC “Regal Petroleum Corporation (Ukraine) Limited”. The reason for canceling the registration was a complaint by “Amstor Trade” LLC.
The commercial court decided that the change of beneficiaries in Novinsky’s companies did not violate the rights of Amstor Trade, so the Ministry of Justice should not have interfered with corporate rights. “In view of this, the order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine is subject to recognition as illegal and annulled,” the court’s decision reads.
An appeal can be filed with the Northern Commercial Court of Appeal.
In June 2024, the state eased sanctions against Novinsky to make it possible to resume gas production at the stopped fields of the Smart Energy group.
biz.liga.net
