CASSATION DECLARED INVALID THE AUCTION FOR THE SALE OF SHARES OF THE LARGEST AGRICULTURAL PRODUCER OF THE KHABAROVSK REGION

Shares of Khorskoe JSC, which were the property of the Khabarovsk region, were sold as a result of the cartel implementation.

The Arbitration Court of the Far Eastern District declared invalid the auction for the sale of 100% of the shares of Khorskoe JSC and the sales contract concluded as a result of it.

Earlier, the Khabarovsk Regional Office of the FAS Russia issued a decision against the auction participants, who included Khabarovsk Agrarian LLC, on violation of the antimonopoly legislation by concluding an anti-competitive agreement at the auction*.

As it was founded by the antimonopoly authority, participants who agreed not to raise the price applied for participation in the open auction for the sale of shares of Khorskoe JSC.

As a result, the company's shares were sold to a cartel member - Khabarovsk Agrarian LLC - for 195 million rubles.

After that, 99% of the shares in the authorized capital of Khabarovsk Agrarian LLC was transferred to Euroaziyagroup LLC, which is owned by a foreign company.

The court of cassation upheld the findings of the court of first instance that the sale of shares of Khorskoe JSC as a result of implementation of the cartel had restricted the number of applicants who are interested to participate in competitive events and able to influence the competitive purchase pricing of the disputed property.

Taking into account that the contested auction was held in violation of the current legislation, public interests and rights, including those of third parties, the cassation declared invalid the auction and the purchase contract concluded on its results for shares of the agricultural producer.

* Paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 11 of the Law on Protection of Competition