The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine Held a Backstage Roundtable to Benefit a Corporate Raider, Argentem Creek Partners, - GNT Group

Sergiy Groza and Volodymyr Naumenko, beneficial owners of GNT Group, are surprised by the unintelligible conduct of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC). On June 16, 2023, a roundtable dedicated to the business conflict between Olimpex Coupe International, ZPK Inzerno Export, and Metalsukraine Corp Ltd., members of the GNT Group holding company, and their creditors, Argentem Creek Partners (ACP) and Innovatus Capital Partners, was held secretively in Kyiv under the ACC’s auspices.

The companies became aware that this public event was supported by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, which invited officers of state-owned institutions, such as State-owned Enterprise Odesa Sea Commercial Port, State-owned Enterprise Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine, and the State Property Fund of Ukraine’s, to take part. The roundtable was initiated by ACP, a U. S. fund, and law firms Hillmont Partners (representing ACP) and Avellum (representing Innovatus).

However, event organizers grossly violated the principle of equal rights and equal access to information for all parties to the conflict. Firstly, the events calendar published on the ACC’s website does not mention the roundtable event at all. Secondly, representatives of the other party to the conflict. Thirdly, Hryhorii Pavlenko, a lawyer representing beneficial owners of the GNT Group holding company (the debtor), was kicked out from the roundtable when he came to the meeting scheduled at the InterContinental Kyiv hotel.

Thus, the ACC facilitated and created a situation where representatives of one party to a conflict (that is, the creditors, ACP and Innovatus) had an opportunity to discuss it secretly with officials of the Ukrainian state authorities without any participation of the other party, a representative of the GNT Group’s (the debtor) beneficial owners.

In our opinion, by doing so, the ACC, as a legal entity operating under private law, violated provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Prevention of Corruption” (in particular, its Articles 60 “Requirements for Transparency and Access to Information” and 61 “General Principles of Preventing Corruption in Operations of a Legal Entity.”

Let us reiterate that ACP, a U. S. company, started a hostile takeover of the business of GNT Group, an owner of a large grain terminal in Odesa Sea Commercial Port, in late December 2022. The creditor, ACP, unlawfully appointed Hillmont Partners lawyers, who have no experience in the stevedoring business, as directors to holding member companies.

Later, ACP unlawfully initiated the bankruptcy of the Group’s companies operating under the grain corridor deal by loading Ukrainian grain for export on vessels at the port.

Currently, this case is being litigated before Ukrainian and foreign courts. Beneficial owners of the GNT Group made repeated public statements about all these circumstances in Ukrainian and foreign media.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, which declares behaving ethically and honestly as a principle underpinning its business dealings, was fully able to familiarize itself with both parties’ stances and make a balanced decision on their equitable participation in a meeting with the Ukrainian officials.

According to earlier reports by Ukrainian media, Hillmont Partners is closely connected with the pro-government Members of Rada. Journalists suggested in their investigation that the authorities could exert some administrative and corruption-related pressure on the judicial, law enforcement, and registration systems in favor of ACP.

Іnvestigators also noted that in November 2022, Davyd Arakhamia, a Member of Rada, was reported to have met ACP representatives in Vienna. He confirmed it personally to journalists.

The actions of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine remain unclear to beneficial owners of GNT Group. To protect their rights, the Group’s member companies will send official appeals and inquiries regarding these events to the National Corruption Prevention Agency, the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, the U. S. Embassy in Ukraine, the State-owned Enterprise Odesa Sea Commercial Port, the State-owned Enterprise Administration of Sea Ports of Ukraine, and the State Property Fund of Ukraine’s.

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