Hyderabad: The Telangana high court has issued an interim order restraining AL Plus Holding LLC, a Qatar-based firm, from transferring its 26% stake in the Hyderabad-based company Pioneer Aluminum Industries in international arbitration (settlement) proceedings involving German financial institution OWH SE iL and companies linked to Russian aluminium major United Company RUSAL International PJSC. The court directed AL Plus Holding not to transfer its stake, which is valued at over 2,840.43 crore.‘Execution proceedings’Justice T Madhavi Devi of the high court passed the order on March 3 while hearing a petition for execution proceedings seeking enforcement of arbitral awards issued by a tribunal under the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), which were part of an ongoing arbitration dispute between the international firms.During the hearing, the petitioner, OWH SE iL, outlined a chain of ownership in which the primary debtor owns a subsidiary company that, in turn, holds the entity with the 26% share in Pioneer Aluminum. As part of executing the arbitration proceedings, OWH SE iL informed the court that it had already attempted enforcement in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Jersey, England and Wales, Cyprus, Kazakhstan, and Qatar, but had recovered only a small portion of the award amount so far. It requested that the high court declare the arbitral awards binding and enforceable in India as if they were decrees of the court.As Pioneer Aluminum is headquartered in Hyderabad and holds assets in Andhra Pradesh, the petitioner sought to secure these local shares to ensure the final payment could not be avoided by shifting funds. The court was informed that the party responsible for the debt had lost an appeal against the ruling but had managed to avoid payments in nine other countries through various strategies.‘Complex process’Counsel for the parties involved argued that there was no immediate indication that the shares were being transferred. They further noted that transferring such shares is a complex process that would naturally take considerable time. However, the court observed that a temporary freeze was necessary to ensure that the previous legal ruling was not undermined by any potential attempt to divert assets.Consequently, the court directed AL Plus Holding LLC to halt any transfer of its 26% shareholding in Pioneer Aluminum Industries until the next hearing. The court also permitted a representative to act on behalf of the petitioner and ordered that all necessary legal documents be shared with the counsel for the opposing parties within one week, adjourning the matter to April 7 for further hearing.
