Vienna court orders Raiffeisen Bank to refund €3.15 billion

The Vienna court in absentia ordered Rasperia to pay Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and the Russian Raiffeisenbank about €3.15 billion. RBI reported it.

"The decision in absentia was preceded by the court's verification of the consistency of the claims, during which the stated factual circumstances were recognized as justified and admissible," the statement said.

Rasperia has four weeks to appeal. If the company does not file a complaint, the decision will take effect, after which the RBI will apply to the Austrian financial regulator for permission to recover compensation from the assets of Rasperia frozen in Austria.

We are talking about 28.5 million shares of the construction concern Strabag, dividends starting in 2021 and cash payment from the reduction of Strabag capital in March 2024. Assets blocked in Austria due to EU sanctions.

The dispute arose after a failed deal with this package. In December 2023, Raiffeisen was going to acquire 27.78% of Strabag from Rasperia for €1.51 billion. The buyer was to be the Russian Raiffeisenbank, which would then transfer shares to the Austrian parent structure in the form of dividends. In May 2024, the group withdrew from the deal without obtaining approval from European regulators.

After that, Rasperia appealed to the Arbitration Court of the Kaliningrad region. The company accused defendants of seizing corporate control of Strabag, removing its representatives from shareholder meetings, blurring the stake and failing to pay dividends. In January 2025, the court ordered Raiffeisenbank to pay Rasperia €2.444 billion and take on the balance of Strabag shares for a comparable amount.

Until 2019, Oleg Deripaska was the controlling shareholder of Rasperia, but later he completely left the company’s shareholders. The company was redomiciled to a special administrative district in Kaliningrad as Rasperia Trading Limited.