FRANKFURT, May 18 (Reuters) - Russian energy firm Sintez Group has filed a fresh lawsuit against German utility RWE and its outgoing Chief Executive Juergen Grossmann, seeking 675 million euros ($857.8 million) in damages, a German court said.
A spokesman for the regional court in the western German city of Essen said on Friday the suit was filed by Rustenburg Co. Ltd - a subsidiary of Sintez - and declined to comment on its contents.
According to German media, Sintez is making a new push to claim damages from RWE for the German company’s decision in 2008 t o drop a plan to buy Russian electricity generator TGK-2 jointly with Sintez.
After RWE dropped out, Sintez filed a claim for $1.41 billion with the London Court of International Arbitration, but a person familiar with the matter told Reuters the court had dismissed the case.
Sintez confirmed it has filed a suit against RWE in Essen but declined to comment on its contents.
“We are confident that we can protect our rights in the German court,” the company said in comments e-mailed to Reuters.
RWE declined to comment.
German weekly WirtschaftsWoche said Russian tycoon Leonid Lebedev, who controls Sintez, took up large loans at Sberbank and other lenders to finance the $800-million deal.
$1 = 0.7869 euros Reporting by Matthias Inverardi, Tom Käckenhoff and Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Maria Sheahan; Editing by David Hulmes
