Number of Linde industrial gas plants in Russia transferred to Kuibyshevazot

MOSCOW. Aug 11 (Interfax) - Part of the assets of the international group Linde, as part of debt collection under a contract for constructing a gas processing complex in Ust-Luga, has been transferred to a major consumer of their products - Kuibyshevazot.

According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, on August 10, 100% of the shares of Praxair Rus LLC were transferred to the balance sheet of PJSC Kuibyshevazot. Previously, the owner of the share was Linde UK Holdings No.2 Limited, and in July it was transferred to the balance sheet of RusChemAlliance LLC (a joint venture with the participation of Gazprom).

RusChemAlliance and Linde concluded EPC contracts in 2021 for constructing gas processing and liquefaction plants in Ust-Luga. Linde, having received an advance payment, suspended work in 2022, citing EU sanctions. A Russian court satisfied the claims against the foreign contractor and ordered the foreclosure on Linde's shares in Russian legal entities.

The U.S. company Praxair Inc. became part of Linde Group in 2018. Praxair Rus LLC last published its financial statements for 2021, when its revenue reached 4 billion rubles. The company has branches in the Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Sverdlovsk regions, as well as in Moscow; it owns 90% of Praxair Volgograd LLC (next to the industrial site of Volgograd's JSC Kaustik), as well as 73.99% of Praxair Samara LLC (another 25.01% is held by PJSC Kuibyshevazot) and 50% of Praxair Azot Togliatti LLC. The other partner is also Kuibyshevazot; it is one of the founders of the Association of Industrial and Medical Gas Producers (Balashikha).