Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska has a major stake in Austria’s largest construction company, Strabag, through a company. Now the major shareholder wants to sell all shares to a Russian company. Observers see this as Deripaska’s attempt to regain access to his shares that were frozen due to the war in Ukraine.
At stake is a 27.8 percent stake in Strabag that Deripaska wants to transfer to a limited liability company called Iliadis JSC. The Strabag board was informed today that a purchase agreement has been signed for all shares in MKAO Rasperia Trading Ltd., which is controlled by Deripaska. The company announced Tuesday that it was ready. However, the purchase agreement has not yet been completed.
Sanction review required, but not yet possible
According to the investment reports, Rasperia would no longer be indirectly controlled by Deripaska once the purchase agreement was executed, the statement said. Strabag is not aware of any further details about the transaction. Therefore, no sanctions review can be carried out at this time.
Funds frozen since 2022
Strabag still believes that Rasperia’s shares have been frozen in accordance with the EU sanctions regulation. Shortly after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, oligarch Deripaska, considered a confidant of Putin, was placed on the sanctions list by the EU in April 2022. His assets were also frozen.
Business journalist Bernhard Ecker sees the planned purchase as a maneuver by Deripaska: he is trying to ‘unblock’ his frozen shares in Strabag by transferring them to someone else, Ecker wrote on platform X (see above). He’s “pretty sure he has nothing to do with this other company,” the “trend” editor said sarcastically.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
