Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled natural gas giant, has appealed and requested a stay of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s temporary restraining order that enjoins Western financial institutions from financing Sunday’s scheduled government auction of Yukos‘ main production subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz (“Yugansk”)in Moscow. An extraordinary Saturday afternoon hearing on Gazprom’s motion for stay was scheduled before U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas in Houston in civil case no. 04-04756. Here are the earlier posts on the fast-breaking Yukos case.
Gazprom, which is the expected to be the winner of Sunday’s auction, may not be able to finance its winning bid after a consortium of Western banks — including Deutsche Bank, ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein — froze a credit line of about $13 billion it had agreed to loan Gazprom for its bid. With huge banking interests in the United States, each of the banks could face legal action if they violated the TRO and went ahead and financed Gazprom’s bid.
Stay turned for late breaking developments in this fast moving case.
Update: Judge Atlas denied Gazprom’s motion for a stay of the TRO.
Meanwhile, the largest shareholder in Yukos is planning a $100 billion lawsuit against various entities involved in the Russian auction of Yukos.