Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court confirmed a voluntary settlement between the plaintiff Yekaterinburg City and the defendant Valode & Pistre Management SA. The plaintiff is to pay the defendant ?2.3m; this information is available via the court’s website.

Now Yekaterinburg City insisted that its contractor agreement with the French company Valode & Pistre Management SA for the completion of some design work should be declared invalid in the part relating to obligations. The plaintiff also insisted on being paid back ?13.5m that had earlier been transferred to the agency as an advance payment on the said contract, for the contract, according to the plaintiff, had not been fulfilled in full. Valode & Pistre Management SA then placed a counter claim against Yekaterinburg City with the court, demanding that it be paid ?9.4m – the debt for the work done and the penalty for the unmet financial obligations. This claim had been sustained earlier.

The project of a business quarter called Yekaterinburg City that the namesake company is working on is expected to unite over 400,000 sq m of commercial and shopping space, offices, hotels, entertainment facilities, cafes, and restaurants. Under this project, twelve buildings are to be put up, with the total area of the quarter estimated at 5 hectares.

The federal arbitration court supported the court’s ruling in what concerned rejecting the claims laid by Yekaterinburg City (namely, declaring its contract with Valode & Pistre invalid). As for the financial claims this UMMC Holding member lays against the French Valode & Pistre Management SA, all the judicial acts were called off and transferred to Sverdlovsk Region Arbitration Court for further consideration.