Zangezur Mining Sues Prime Minister's Office Demanding Return of Its Shares

Zangezur Mining LLC, which owns 12.5% of the shares of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, has filed a lawsuit against the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, the Russian-registered Industrial Company LLC, and the Prime Minister's Office of Armenia. According to Sputnik Armenia, the company is seeking to have the transaction regarding the donation of shares to the Zangezur Combine, made with the Prime Minister's Office, declared invalid.

Interestingly, prior to this lawsuit, Zangezur Mining had already approached the court on July 7, 2021, before the details of the transaction became public. Current information indicates that the company's claim is directed against the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, the Central Depository of Armenia, and Ameriabank.

Zangezur Mining demands the latter two entities to return its shares and transfer them into its ownership, allocating them to its own account. This claim has already been accepted for proceedings, with a hearing scheduled for November 12 of this year at the general jurisdiction court in Syunik Province.

According to the official website of the state registry, the owner of Zangezur Mining is Mikhail Zurabov, a former minister of health and social development of Russia. On September 30, it was reported that one of the shareholders of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine, the Russian Industrial Company, had donated 25% of its stake to the Armenian government. On the same day, the government made a written decision to accept this donation.

Since the Industrial Company holds 60% of the shares in the Combine, this transaction resulted in the Armenian government acquiring a 15% stake in the Combine. Interestingly, the Industrial Company had never been mentioned as a shareholder of the Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine before; it became a shareholder precisely on September 30, the same day it donated 25% of its acquired 60% shares to the government.

It is also revealed that this company, in turn, belongs to Geopromining Armenia, a shareholder of the Combine. According to information available on the Russian state registry’s website, the Industrial Company was registered on December 12, 2017. The company's headquarters is located in Moscow and it had one employee from 2017 to 2019, but was recorded as having none as of December 31, 2020. The executive director of the Industrial Company is Victoria Saldatova.

Later, commenting on the mentioned transaction, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that the Russian company undertook to build a copper-smelting plant in Armenia in exchange for the government's deal and is negotiating about constructing a new nuclear power plant in Armenia.