German court rejects Rosneft's challenge to Shell's refinery stake sale
Rosneft argued deal could jeopardise its own sale plans
Court says Rosneft views on buyer's suitability irrelevant
Rosneft lawyer says company considering an appeal
Updates with comments from court, Rosneft lawyer in Germany
By Riham Alkousaa
BERLIN, Oct 23 (Reuters) -A German court on Wednesday dismissed a complaint by Russian oil firm Rosneft ROSN.MM against Shell's SHEL.L planned sale of a stake in Germany's Schwedt refinery, a spokesperson for the court said.
In the complaint, filed with the higher regional court in Duesseldorf, Rosneft challenged Shell's plans to sell its 37.5% stake in the refinery, which is majority owned by Rosneft, to Britain's Prax Group.
Rosneft argued that, under an agreement among Schwedt's ownership consortium, existing shareholders had a right of first refusal and that having Prax as a stakeholder in Schwedt could jeopardise the sale of its own stake in the future.
The court said Rosneft's complaint lacked legal grounds, adding that under the consortium agreement the company was obligated to consent to the sale as long as Shell had offered other shareholders the right of first refusal, which it said Rosneft declined in writing.
It said Rosneft's view of the buyer’s suitability was irrelevant to its obligation to approve the sale.
Bertrand Malmendier, Rosneft's lawyer in Germany, said it believed the court judgement was wrong, adding that Rosneft would consider all possible legal options, including an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice, which the court had granted.
Malmendier said it was possible that the Prax deal might fall apart for other reasons, adding there was no sign of the transaction closing even though the contractual deadlines for that to happen had expired.
Shell and Prax were not immediately available for comment.
Rosneft holds a 54.17% stake in Schwedt, but was stripped of control by the German government in 2022 as a result of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent severing of energy ties between Germany and Russia.
The future of Rosneft's German assets is yet to be resolved but the German government said the company was pursuing a sale of the assets.
A source familiar with the matter said the company was negotiating a sale to Qatar, which has a long history of investing in Germany and is the biggest single shareholder in RWE RWEG.DE, the country's biggest power producer.
Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; Additional reporting by Robert Harvey; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter
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