Strabag cuts Russian connections

Strabag is to close its contracting operations in Russia and terminate its agreements with Russian shareholders.

The company is majority owned by the Haselsteiner foundation in Austria but with additional ownership through a syndicate agreement involving Russian company MKAO ‘Rasperia Trading Limited’, which holds 27.8% of the shares. Rasperia is part-owned by the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has been sanctioned by the UK government.

Strabag’s head office in Vienna. (Photo: Strabag.)

Strabag said today that the Haselsteiner foundation, having been unable to acquire the Russian shares, has terminated the syndicate agreement with UNIQA, Raiffeisen Groups and Rasperia.

The company will also close its Russian operations, which represent around 0.3% of group revenues.

On Monday this week, Strabag had said it was able to operate legally in the UK, US and EU despite the sanctions against Deripaska.

Thomas Birtel, CEO of Strabag SE; “The Management Board welcomes the step taken by our core shareholder, the Haselsteiner family foundation, to achieve clarity by terminating the syndicate agreement.

“On the part of the management, we are prepared to take all legally possible measures to avert any harm to the company. In view of the sanctions currently imposed by the UK and Canada, this refers in particular to the payment of dividends.”

Strabag said that in response to the enormous hardship of the Ukrainian population, it had initiated and financed extensive aid measures, especially in the most affected group countries of Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Moldova.