Over the past week, more than 40 media sources disseminated misleading information discrediting the business reputation of URALCHEM JSC and its management.

Those publications falsely accuse URALCHEM of attempting a corporate raid on Togliattiazot PJSC as well as of using “the most dishonest methods of the 1990s: fake shareholder meetings, planting drugs, alleging Togliattiazot management ties with ISIS, an organization banned in Russia, and attempts to organize a terrorist act in the territory of the enterprise.”

In this regard, URALCHEM officially declares the following. The company exercises its rights as a shareholder in Togliattiazot PJSC in strict compliance with the Federal Law “On Joint-Stock Companies”. Over a period of six years, URALCHEM has been urging the management of PJSC Togliattiazot to respect the rights of minority shareholders and stop the illegal practices accompanying the production and economic activities of Togliattiazot. All actions that URALCHEM JSC undertakes in relation to Togliattiazot are within the existing legislative field.

The Komsomolsky District Court of Togliatti is currently trying a criminal case against the former management of Togliattiazot PJSC, Sergey and Vladimir Makhlai, and Yevgeny Korolev, as well as Andreas Zivy, owner of the Swiss company Ameropa AG, and Beat Ruprecht, director of another Swiss company Nitrochem Distribution AG - all charged for embezzlement of 85 billion rubles. Within the said criminal case, URALCHEM JSC filed two civil claims for recovery of 75 billion rubles from the defendants in favor of Togliattiazot, as well as for recovery of 10.6 billion rubles in compensation for material damage caused to URALCHEM.

URALCHEM officially declares that the information contained in the aforementioned media materials is false and is part of a PR campaign directed against URALCHEM. Such biased materials of the same template indicate that the defendants have no real counterarguments against the evidences presented by the public prosecution. URALCHEM believes that those materials are an attempt by the majority shareholders and top managers of Togliattiazot PJSC to put pressure on the court, evade liability and discredit URALCHEM as an injured party and plaintiff.

In addition, the said materials, that purposefully disseminate distorted information capable of damaging the reputation of URALCHEM JSC, contain false allegations about the company finding itself in financial distress, which is far from being the case. In 2017, URALCHEM's net profit amounted to 16.2 billion rubles, and EBITDA exceeded 25.5 billion rubles. URALCHEM also complies with its obligations to the state and society: in 2017, more than 3.6 billion rubles were paid to the Russian budget in taxes. The company's products are successfully exported to more than 80 countries. URALCHEM maintains constructive relationships with creditor banks, with all the company’s loan responsibilities being fulfilled wholly and timely.

In order to protect its business reputation, URALCHEM, JSC reserves the right to take measures provided for by Russian law.