A Russian court has ordered that Deutsche Bank's and Commerzbank's assets, accounts, property and shares be seized in Russia as part of a lawsuit involving the German banks, court documents showed.
The banks were among the guarantor lenders under a contract for the construction of a gas processing plant in Russia with Germany's Linde, which was terminated due to Western sanctions.
The lawsuits were filed by St Petersburg-based RusChemAlliance, a joint venture 50% owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom which is the operator of the project.
The St Petersburg arbitration court has barred Deutsche Bank from exercising its 100% interest in the authorised capital of its Russian subsidiary, as well as Deutsche Bank Technology Center LLC.
The court has also imposed the seizure of up to €238.6m in securities, real estate and bank accounts of Deutsche Bank, as well as its Russian subsidiary and Deutsche Bank Technology Center.
Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt said it had already provisioned around €260m for the case.
"We will need to see how this claim is implemented by the Russian courts and assess the immediate operational impact in Russia," the bank said in a statement.
The court also seized Commerzbank's assets worth €93.7m as well as securities and the bank's building in central Moscow.
Commerzbank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Russian court on Friday ordered UniCredit's assets, accounts and property, as well as shares in two subsidiaries, be seized as part of a parallel lawsuit.
