Dana Gas fails to reverse court dividend injunction in sukuk dispute

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, April 30 – Dana Gas PJSC said that the English court rejected its application last Friday to lift the dividend injunction.

The court also decided to extend its order of April 4 restraining the company and its shareholders from declaring or paying a dividend until rules on the validity and enforceability of the Mudarabah agreement unless the company repays any obligations under the agreement, according to a company update on legal dispute regarding its sukuk al mudarabah.

As announced March 26, Dana Gas said that the English Court of Appeal had refused the company’s application to appeal the English High Court orders of Nov. 17 and Feb. 1.

On Monday, the English court restated its previous orders that the company take “all steps within its power to cause the sharjah proceedings and the injunctions issued in June 2017 and in March 2018 to be terminated,” the release said.

As a result, the company said it will pay the dividend into the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange account after being advised by the exchange and meanwhile will write to the Securities and Commodities Authority for its previous request to postpone the dividend payout.

As announced March 26, the English High Court orders of Nov. 17 and Feb. 1 prohibit Dana Gas from discharging or withdrawing or abandoning any of the orders issued in favor of the company or the lawsuits instituted by the company before the UAE courts including lawsuit No. 3576/2017 Commercial Plenary.

In addition, the company is ordered to continue with the proceedings in the lawsuit No. 3576/2017 Commercial Plenary before the UAE court and to submit all defenses pertinent to protecting the interests of the plaintiff and all shareholders of the second defendant Dana Gas.

The UAE court has also joined BlackRock Global Allocation Fund to the UAE proceedings and issued a new anti-suit injunction against BlackRock, the delegate, trustee and security agent preventing them “directly or indirectly from taking any proceedings against Dana Gas or its shareholders in the UAE and the United Kingdom on the ground of the British orders and judgements rendered in Case No. FL-000004-2017 [in England] and the related orders and rulings until these judgements and rulings are referred to the UAE judiciary to resolve their enforceability in the UAE, subject to Article 235 of the Civil Procedure Law,” the release said.

The UAE court also issued orders to all parties to the UAE proceedings suspending the operation in the UAE of the Feb. 1 orders of the English court until the UAE courts determine their enforceability under UAE law.

Additionally, because BlackRock, the delegate and trustee failed to appear at the March 22 hearing, the UAE court adjourned the main case to April 4 to allow the lawyers for the intervening shareholder to serve final notices on those parties.

Also, the company instructed its BVI lawyers on March 23 to take steps in the BVI court to have the BVI injunction lifted. The BVI injunction was originally granted in support of the original Sharjah UAE Federal Court injunction of June 13, 2017, which will continue to remain in place restraining the delegate and trustee and security agent from taking any action while the recent orders of the Sharjah UAE Federal Court remain in place.

Dana Gas is a private sector natural gas company based in Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates.

© 2015 Prospect News.
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