Convicted Russian billionaire Guryev defeats London trial over Phosagro stake By Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) – Convicted Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev on Thursday defeated a lawsuit brought by a former friend of his who wanted a majority stake in one of the world's biggest fertilizer producers.
Guryev, who steps down as Phosagro CEO in 2022 after being sanctioned by the United States and Britain as an ally of President Vladimir Putin following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, is being sued by Alexander Gorbachev at London's High Court.
Gorbachev said he was entitled to a 24.75% interest in Guryev's shares in Phosagro, which would be worth around $1 billion.
He relied on what he said were verbal agreements between the two, including a conversation outside a London bar in the mid-2000s, which Guryev allegedly retracted.
Guryev, however, described the case as a “distraction” and said that Gorbachev had divested himself of all interest in the business nearly two decades ago.
Judge Mark Pelling dismissed Gorbachev's case, saying in a written decision that “there are too many inexplicable and inexplicable contradictions and inherent ambiguities about what the plaintiff alleged over time”.
Gorbachev said in a statement: “This is a very disappointing decision. Obviously, I will review it and consider my options.”
A spokesman for Guryev did not immediately comment.
Imposing sanctions on Guryev until 2022, Britain called him a “close friend” of Putin. The US included him in a series of sanctions that same year that targeted “Kremlin-linked elites”.
The BBC previously reported that Guryev's spokesman said there was “no legitimate or legitimate basis” for the punishment.
The case brought by Gorbachev centered on competing memories of discussions about Phosagro held almost twenty years earlier, in London pubs, hotels, restaurants and saunas.
Gorbachev said Guryev had promised to interest Phosagro in his place, after Gorbachev was forced to flee Russia in 2003 and seek asylum in Britain.
But Guryev – who, along with his family, is worth $9.3 billion according to Forbes magazine – said the lawsuit was Gorbachev's latest attempt to seek interest in Phosagro.
The judge said in his decision that it was “inherently impossible” for Guryev to promise to be interested on Gorbachev's behalf.
