OAO Yukos, the Russian oil company wallowing in a chapter 11 case in Houston, had its credit-rating slashed to default status yesterday after it failed to make the interest payments on a $1 billion loan from a syndicate of western banks and a $1.6 billion loan to Menatep, which is also its largest shareholder. Security for the loans was Yukos’ interest in Yuganskneftegaz (“Yugansk”), the oil unit that the Russian government auctioned off earlier this month to defray Yukos’ alleged $27 billion in overdue taxes. Here are the earlier posts on the Yukos chapter 11 case.
Meanwhile, in Houston, Deutsche Bank filed a motion to dismiss the Yukos chapter 11 case with the Houston Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday. Duetsche Bank was was one of a group of Western banks that had committed to finance OAO Gazprom‘s acquisition of Yugansk at the Russian government’s auction before the Houston Bankrutpcy Court’s temporary restraining order enjoined the bank and other Western financial institutions from participating in the auction.
In its motion, Deutsche Bank asserted that Yukos had tried to “artificially manufacture” a presence in the U.S. in order to seek bankruptcy protection. In obtaining the TRO earlier this month, Yukos had preliminarily persuaded the Bankruptcy Court that it had jurisdiction over Yukos based on, among other things, the fact that it had stablished a bank account in Houston, that its chief financial officer had recently moved to Houston and was working there, and that approximately 15% of Yukos is owned by investors from the United States.