The Ministry of Industry and Trade filed a lawsuit against the owner of the Megapolis tobacco distributor

The application was filed with the Moscow Region Arbitration Court, Interfax reported. The first hearing in this case will be held on August 8. Other details have not yet been disclosed.

Megapolis Trading Company JSC is 100% owned by Dutch Megapolis Distribution BV. The ultimate beneficiaries of Megapolis were Igor Kesaev and Sergey Katsiev, who owned 52.8% of the company. This data is derived from the IPO prospectus of Mercury Retail Group in 2021, which is also co-owned by Kesaev and Katsiev.

Megapolis supplies cigarettes, soft drinks and groceries.

Previously, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Energy had the right to go to court to demand the suspension of corporate rights of foreign owners in relation to Russian structures on the EZO list. In this case, the courts have the power to unilaterally exclude foreigners from the ownership structure.

In recent years, the departments have resorted to this practice more than once. For example, in the Azbuka Vkusa case, the retailer’s general director Denis Sologub filed a petition to suspend the corporate rights of a Cypriot structure over a Russian legal entity, but a third party filed the appeal with the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The court granted the request.

Also in April, the Moscow Arbitration Court fully satisfied the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s demand to suspend the corporate rights of Dutch company X5 Retail Group NV in relation to its Russian structure.