KYIV. April 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The Higher Economic Court of Ukraine on April 15, 2015 will consider an appeal made by private enterprise Illichivsk Container Terminal against the termination of a joint activity agreement signed with state enterprise Illichivsk Maritime Merchant Port (Odesa region) in 2005.

Illichivsk Container Terminal CEO Andriy Pavliutin announced this at a press conference held at Interfax-Ukraine.

Pavliutin said that in 2014 the port, without any negotiations with the terminal, decided to terminate the said contract, arguing that the contract was not favorable for the port.

"These statements are absolutely groundless, because only in 2014 the terminal under the contract paid the minimum guaranteed income of UAH 74 million to the port, while the port's net profit amounted to UAH 117 million. So, without the money paid by the terminal, the port would have earned UAH 43 million," he said.

He said that the number of containers handled in the port has fallen significantly since the start of the litigation.

"The port's requirement to terminate the joint activity contract, satisfied by the Odesa courts, is in direct violation of state guarantees. These events are beyond the comprehension of foreign investors," Pavliutin said.

He said that the terminal is an enterprise with foreign investment: a 50% stake in the company is owned by U.S. investment fund Siguler Gulf, 25% - German company SRR Deutschland, and 25% belongs to Pavliutin.

"Our American investors say that the outcome of this case is being watched by many of their partners and that their decision on whether to invest in Ukraine or not would depend on that," Pavliutin said.

Managing partner of Asters law firm Oleksiy Didkovsky, in turn, said that the representatives of SRR Deutschland are also monitoring this process and, if necessary, would be ready to file a lawsuit against Ukraine to protect their investors' rights.