Stockholders of Ukraina Department Store to seek return of control over object
Kyiv, November 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Rostyslav Levinzon, the acting director of PJSC Ukraina Department Store (Kyiv), a 92.7515% stake in which is owned by Quinn Holdings Sweden AB (Sweden), has said that the department store's stockholders will seek to regain control over the object.
"The owner is not being given the chance to realize his legitimate right to control his own property. The stockholders will seek justice and take legitimate actions to prove their right to dispose of their property and restore their control over the department store," he said at a press conference at the Interfax -Ukraine news agency in Kyiv on Thursday.
Levinzon also noted that today "there is no normal management in the department store, and there is a suspicion that active steps are being taken regarding the unfriendly alienation of property."
"We don’t know who is behind this. We hope that the public and the authorities will not allow the alienation of the department store and prevent a raider attack in the center of Kyiv," he added.
A lawyer at the Magisters law firm, Dmytro Marchukov, in turn, said that Quinn Holdings Sweden AB had not currently filed a single lawsuit.
"Investors don't feel very comfortable in the Ukrainian courts. Work is in progress. Rostyslav personally submitted many statements to the law enforcement agencies on the obstructing of the fulfillment of his duties," he said.
Levinzon said that there had been no reaction from law enforcement agencies.
He also noted that the former management of the department store still prevented him from fulfilling his duties, but he said that he was already beginning to work with the tenants of the store.
"The office is closed. We only can guess if the company is working or not. Now is the end of the year - a time when the company resigns contracts and signs new contracts with tenants... However, the office is closed, but maybe someone is working there," he added.
Levinzon also told Interfax-Ukraine that the stockholders were considering appealing to Ukraine’s leadership to prevent the sale of the department store.
As reported, during an extraordinary general meeting of stockholders of PJSC Ukraina Department Store on November 7, 2011, which was convened by the majority stockholder Quinn Holdings Sweden AB, it was decided to make a reshuffle in the management of the department store.
After the meeting, in particular, the company's director was suspended from duty, and Levinzon was appointed the acting director. In addition, there were changes in the composition of the supervisory board and the auditing commission.
The decision to hold an extraordinary general meeting of stockholders was made by Quinn Holdings Sweden AB in connection with the need to address urgent issues of company governance, in particular, the formation of a new composition of its bodies. The majority shareholder faced significant difficulties in mutual understanding with the management of the company, which, in its opinion, was inconsistent with its interests and jeopardized the realization of its legitimate rights.