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Combined reports
The Nakhodka's Prosecutor's Office filed criminal charges against the Primorsk Shipping Company last week after the firm sent security guards to seize the office of a shareholder tracking company.
Prisco's actions paralyzed the Far Eastern Register's Nakhodka branch, and the shipping company continues to hold the register's documents, said Larisa Chukhina, the register's general director.
The seizure was just one chapter in an ongoing battle between the two companies. Last month, Prisco accused the register of stealing 22 percent of its stock. Prisco's daughter company, Prisco Sakhalin, sued the register and Vostokbusinessbank, where 4.8 million of Prisco's shares worth $15 million ended up.
The Primorye Arbitration Court has set the hearing for Dec. 15.
Prisco General Director Alexander Kirilichev said someone is playing games with the shares of one of the biggest shipping companies in the country. (Prisco has the largest tanker fleet in the Far East.) He said that because Prisco was worried about the situation, it sealed up two offices of the register.
The allegedly stolen block of shares could be crucial at shareholders meetings' decisions, Kirilichev said. In consolidation with other shareholders, the firm holding this block could get control over Prisco.
Sources close to the investigation say one of the largest shareholders, who owns 13 percent of the stock, opposes the company's directors. Also, many shareholders are foreigners (CS First Boston alone controls about nine percent), and all this creates tension among shareholders.
Prisco's seizure of the Far Eastern Register branches will harm the interests of many legal shareholders, as the company can't deal with the securities on the clients' requests, Chukhina said. This will lead to losses on the deals and non-payment of dividends.
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