The Salzburg District Court's initiation of bankruptcy proceedings for Ostchem Holding GmbH (Austria) is linked to the company's loss of its sole titanium asset – "Krimskiy Titan" – due to the war, as stated in a release from Group DF, which consolidates the assets of Dmitry Firtash.
"The loss of this asset in Crimea is a logical reason for the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings. The Ukrainian nitrogen holding Ostchem, which specializes in fertilizer production, is not connected in any way to the Austrian holding and continues to operate fully in Ukraine," the information relayed to the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Wednesday emphasizes.
It is specified that the Cherkasy "Azot" and "Rivneazot" enterprises are shipping products as usual, according to current contracts, and continue to fulfill their obligations 100%.
According to information from Austrian registries, the bankruptcy was initiated by the debtor company itself. Creditor applications are accepted until March 5, with a meeting scheduled for March 19.
As previously noted in an APA publication, the Austrian Ostchem Holding GmbH has a tax debt to Austria that cannot be settled. According to the Creditreform association, there are outstanding corporate taxes (profit tax) for 2011 amounting to EUR 3.36 million and for 2012 amounting to EUR 4.21 million, due on December 27, 2024. Additionally, according to the balance sheet for the 2023 financial year, the company has de facto no assets but liabilities amounting to nearly EUR 43 million.
Earlier, Group DF indicated that in 2014, the Public Joint Stock Company "Krimskiy Titan" was re-registered from Armyansk (Autonomous Republic of Crimea) to Kyiv, after which Group DF renamed it to Ukrainian Chemical Products (Public Joint Stock Company "Ukrainian Chemical Products"). The owner of Ukrainian Chemical Products was Ostchem Germany GmbH (Hamburg, Germany), which is 100% owned by the Austrian OSTCHEM Holding GmbH.
It was noted that Group DF has not controlled "Krimskiy Titan" since 2016. At the end of 2021, the group reported that "Ukrainian Chemical Products" sold all its assets in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea to the company "Russkiy Titan" (RF). The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
According to data from YouControl, in 2023, Ukrainian Public Joint Stock Company had no revenue. The net loss decreased to 0.87 billion UAH from 3.01 billion UAH the previous year, with total assets at the end of the year amounting to 5.97 billion UAH and current liabilities of 20.63 billion UAH, of which 7.16 billion are short-term bank loans.
Ostchem is the nitrogen holding of Group DF owned by Dmitry Firtash, uniting the largest producers of mineral fertilizers in Ukraine. Since 2011, it includes "Rivneazot" and Cherkasy "Azot," as well as Severodonetsk "Azot" and "Stirol," which are not operational and are located in occupied territories.