Swissport Asks Ukraine's President And Prime Minister For Support With Interavia Case

Swissport International (Swissport), the world’s leading provider of ground and cargo handling services to the aviation industry, continues seeking justice in the Ukraine. In open letters to Ukraine's President and Prime Minister, Swissport International shared a glaring case where rights of foreign investors have been breached due to corrupt court rulings, and resulted in Swissport's loss of control over its subsidiary.

Last year, on 27th March 2013, Swissport lost its majority share of 70.6 per cent and control over its joint venture Swissport Ukraine LLC (now renamed to Interavia LLC). Swissport was victim of a raider attack followed by a flawed legal process led by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), which is rumoured to be ultimately owned by oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, governor of the Dnepropetrovsk oblast. “To our knowledge, this whole operation has been orchestrated by Mr. Aron Mayberg, a UIA co-owner”, reads the letter to President Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk, with regard to the breach of investors' rights in Ukraine and the situation around Swissport's subsidiary.

Signed by Mr Philipp Joeinig, Swissport's Executive Vice-President for Central and Eastern Europe, the letter stresses that, in October 2013, the Highest Economic Court in the Ukraine ruled in favour of Swissport, overruled all prior decisions and referred the case back to the first instance court.

”In May this year, Swissport achieved another significant success in front of the Economic Court of Kyiv, the first instance court, which ruled in favour of Swissport. However, in September 2014, following UIA’s appeal, the Court of Appeal surprisingly ruled against Swissport, despite the fact that, meanwhile, Swissport had obtained a final and binding court ruling in its favour in an ancillary proceeding, pursuant to which Swissport would need to be re-entered as a shareholder into the Ukrainian state register, and the company would have to be renamed Swissport Ukraine again,” the letter reads.

The fact that, now, the Court of Appeal ruled against Swissport in the main case is a surprise to Swissport's investors, since the verdict is not in line with Ukrainian law and contradicts Ukraine´s attempt to achieve and implement European and international legal standards, and to improve its legal and political environment to protect foreign investments efficiently.

”Swissport is deeply concerned that the Government of Ukraine remains silent and fails to act by confining itself, it seems, to the role of a passive observer in this vivid violation of foreign investors' rights. This is all the more surprising for a country that has just signed an Association Agreement with the EU, and has a strong interest in getting closer to the EU and its Member States. Following our experience in investing into business in the Ukraine, we can nothing but warn other foreign companies that are considering to enter this market, as it seems that the legal and political environment is too uncertain and does not meet the required international standards for investments“, states the letter.

In the letter, Swissport’s Vice-President, Philipp Joeinig, expressed his hope that the Government of the Ukraine is interested in Swissport's case becoming an exemplary manifestation of Ukraine's effectiveness in protecting foreign investment, and that the Ukraine demonstrates to the international community that it is capable of securing a fair and transparent resolution of disputes in accordance with the law.

Swissport International Ltd. is the world´s largest provider of ground and cargo handling services in the aviation industry. The company provides ground services on behalf of some 700 client-companies and handles around 224 million passengers and 3.9 million flights per year. The company operates 120 warehouses and moves approx. 4.0 million tonnes of cargo. With a workforce of around 55,000 personnel, Swissport is active at more than 260 stations in 45 countries across five continents, and generates annual consolidated operating revenue of CHF 3 billion. www.swissport.com


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Swissport International Ltd.
Corporate Communications
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+41 43 815 00 15

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