Austria’s RBI ‘derecognizes’ $1.41 billion legal claim from Rasperia for Q2

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(Reuters) -Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) on Thursday said it “derecognizes” 1.2 billion euros ($1.41 billion) in expected proceeds from enforcing claims against Rasperia Trading Limited’s Austrian assets for the second quarter of 2025.

In June, a Russian court had rejected RBI’s bid to lift an injunction banning the sale of its local subsidiary. The ban is tied to a lawsuit brought by Russian investment firm Rasperia after a collapsed deal in which RBI was ordered last year to pay 2 billion euros in damages.

RBI’s board “concluded that the strict criteria under International Financial Reporting Standards for recognition of the expected proceeds from enforcement of legal recourse against Rasperia are no longer met,” the Vienna-based bank said.

Raiffeisen plans to recoup much of the damages imposed in Russia through legal action in Austria aimed at recovering Rasperia assets there. 

The bank told Reuters that writing off 1.2 billion euros will impact the group’s first-half 2025 results, including its Russian operations. However, excluding Russia, the bank said it expects no impact.

RBI is set to release its semi-annual results by the end of July.

The bank’s dispute with Rasperia followed the failure of a deal that RBI hoped would have allowed it to unlock some of its frozen assets in Russia. RBI had sought to buy a stake in Vienna-based construction company Strabag, but pulled out under pressure from Washington.

“Despite the changed accounting treatment, the legal assessment remains unchanged, and RBI’s Management Board maintains a high degree of confidence in its legal claim against Rasperia and the enforceability thereof against Rasperia’s assets in Austria,” RBI said.

($1 = 0.8494 euros)

(Reporting by Disha Mishra and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Francois Murphy and Olaf Brenner; Editing by Leslie Adler)