‘The lack of transparency characteristic of a number of Maxi Group-related entities has lead to a clash between two of the business’s stockholders, namely, Nikolai Maximov and Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK). When the management is handed over from one proprietor to another, the process is normally associated with risks; for instance, the new owners might find themselves left with no more than the seals on the papers and the furniture in the office after all the documents have been signed. This is why one needs more documentation, like the loan and pawning agreements. Otherwise the uncertainty might result in criminal lawsuits; once the case gets to the court, however, the money has usually vanished into thin air already, so the best the new owner can hope for is the court’s ruling allowing them to write this sum off,’ says lawyer Ivan Kadochnikov.

Meanwhile, Maxi Group and NLMK, the enterprise’s majority stockholder (who has 50% plus one share of the business) accused Nikolai Maximov, a minority shareholder, of failing to meet the terms of the agreement signed at the end of 2007, and placed the claim against the man with the arbitration court. Nikolai Maximov, in his turn, placed his claim with the court of Yekaterinburg’s Kirovskiy district, insisting that the company should pay him 1.4 billion RUR, that is, the remainder of the sum he lent the company in January 2008.

‘As far as this case is concerned, the new owners were unable to find the things they’d expected to see on their asset list. Now both parties will probably contest the existing agreements, which is highly likely to lead to legal action,’ the lawyer claims.