Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: 10 martyred by an Israeli airstrike that targeted people waiting for humanitarian aid in Salah al-Din Street in central Gaza
IRGC Statement No. 10: The residents of Tel Aviv are now defenseless in the face of Iran’s missile capabilities
IRGC Statement No. 10: Latest missile strike proved beyond any doubt that the skies over the occupied territories are now fully under our control
IRGC Statement No. 10: Deployment of Fattah missiles delivered a message of Iranian power to Tel Aviv’s delusional ally and instigator of war
IRGC Statement No. 10: Powerful and maneuverable Fattah missiles penetrated "Israel’s" missile defense shield, repeatedly striking the cowardly Zionist hideouts
IRGC Statement No. 10: We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the Zionist army’s air defense system
IRGC Statement No. 10: First-generation Fattah missiles used in latest wave of strikes
In response to the Israeli threat to Tehran's District 18, Iranian forces issue an evacuation order for Israeli settlers in the Neve Tzedek area
Israeli media: Sirens sound in the Dead Sea area over fears of a drone infiltration
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Tehran: Explosions heard in the Piroozi, Sabalan, and Sayyad districts of Tehran

Legal battle for Odessa port assets about to become a matter of state

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Agencies
  • 12 Sep 2023 23:55
3 Min Read

GNT creditors Innovatus Capital Partners and Argentem Creek Partners investment funds, specializing in risky assets, have put their focus on the fight against corruption, which is the current focus of President Volodymyr Zelensky's government.

  • x
  • Legal battle for Odessa port assets about to become a matter of state
    GNT Group owners are being pressured to sell their company to American creditors. (AP)

Argentem Creek Partners, a US fund, is launching an intensive lobbying effort in Kiev to acquire control of Odessa port grain stevedore GNT Group, with both sides in the conflict claiming to be combating corruption.

Sergiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, owners of Odessa-based grain handling enterprise GNT Group, are under increasing pressure to sell their company to their American creditors.

GNT is one of a tiny number of operators taking part in the UN-backed Black Sea grain project - or "grain corridor" - against the backdrop of Russia's grain war, and its probable transfer to private American hands has now taken on a political dimension.

GNT creditors Innovatus Capital Partners and Argentem Creek Partners investment funds, which specialize in risky assets, have put their focus on the fight against corruption, which is the current focus of President Volodymyr Zelensky's government.

Argentem, backed in Kiev by Hillmont Partners, a legal lobbying company with close links to Ukraine's president, has informed Ukrainian authorities that the wife of deputy infrastructure minister Yuri Vaskov formerly worked for GNT.

Read more: Majority of Ukrainians blame Zelensky for widespread corruption: Poll

Assets corrupt, in need of "polishing"

Related News

Russia claimed strikes on arms shipment in Odesa port

Odessa historic Transfiguration Cathedral damaged, but how?

The fund seeks to persuade the White House to list the grain company's assets as corrupt and in need of "polishing."

Hillmont was co-founded by James Hart, a Briton who now consults for the London-based business intelligence firm Quintel Intelligence. Studio Kvartal 95, the Ukrainian president's television production business, has long used the firm's services.

Denys Monastyrskiy, a lawyer and member of parliament who became Zelensky's interior minister and died in a helicopter accident in January, was one of that company's consultants.

Since November, the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has been defending Argentem in the litigation in the US.

Sources told Intelligence Online that the lobbying team is making strategic use of American diplomatic and paradiplomatic channels in Kiev, specifically requesting that the message be delivered to the Zelensky team by the staff of US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink and the American Chamber of Commerce.

Kiev, which is desperately relying on Washington for military aid, must be mindful of its wishes.

Argentem has filed legal procedures against GNT in Ukraine, as well as in the London Court of International Arbitration, in Cyprus, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates, and has obtained a preliminary worldwide freezing order from the London Court of International Arbitration.

However, Nicosia denied its attempt to freeze assets in July. Given the uncertainty surrounding the resolution of these issues, the fund is looking for a political decision from Kiev.

Meanwhile, in June, GNT released a document on its website accusing AmCham of breaking Ukrainian anti-corruption legislation by backing Argentem's campaign and excluding them from negotiations.

  • Odessa Port
  • Kiev
  • Ukraine
  • Odessa

Most Read

Iranian missiles impact Israeli sites in Tel Aviv in 2nd wave

Iran's missiles impact 'strategic' Israeli site in Tel Aviv

  • Politics
  • 14 Jun 2025
Bin Salman: Islamic world backs Iran in call to Pezeshkian

MBS says Islamic world backs Iran in call with Pezeshkian

  • MENA
  • 15 Jun 2025
Iran launches 9th wave of Op. True Promise 3, destroys IOF air defense

Iran launches 9th wave of Op. True Promise 3, destroys IOF air defense

  • MENA
  • 17 Jun 2025
Smoke rises after an Iranian ballistic missile directly struck Tel Aviv, Occupied Palestine, June 13, 2025 (AP)

Op. True Promise 3: Iran's ballistic missiles strike Tel Aviv

  • MENA
  • 13 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
A Turkish Air Force pilot gestures from the cockpit of an F-16 military fighter jet before an Air Policing exercise at the Baza 86 military air base, outside Fetesti, Romania, Wednesday, March 6, 2024 (AP)
Politics

Israeli aircraft violate Turkish airspace, fighter jets scrambled

An Israeli occupation forces armored personnel carrier maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, southern occupied Palestine, Wednesday, June 11, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Palestinian resistance downs Israeli drone in Gaza amid extensive ops

An Israeli Hermes 450 UAV drone flies over Beirut, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Politics

Iran reports shooting down 28 types of hostile aircraft in 24 hours

Firefighters work to extinguish a blaze after a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, occupied Palestine, Monday, June 16, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Iran retaliatory strikes target greater Tel Aviv as injuries reported

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS