MOSCOW, April 26 - RAPSI. The Moscow Regional Commercial Court has registered UniCredit bank’s application for Nutritek's bankruptcy.

The court has yet to schedule the hearing.

The Tenth Commercial Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decision to collect from Nutritek 403 million rubles ($13.7 million) in debt under a loan agreement upon the bank’s request.

The Moscow Commercial Court sided with the bank in its lawsuit against Nutritek in January. The appeals court dismissed Nutritek’s appeal and affirmed the previous judgment on April 23.

Nutrinvestholding, the group’s parent company, which acted as the borrower, has been involved as the third party. The defendant acted as the guarantor.

Nutrinvestholding obtained the loan in 2008. It defaulted and requested debt restructuring. The bank agreed and entered into supplementary agreements.

After the borrower violated its obligations once again, the bank requested early debt repayment.

UniCredit first claimed the principal amount, interest and penalties from both the borrower and the guarantor.

However, the bank filed to consider the claims under separate proceedings in September. The Moscow Commercial Court upheld the bank's lawsuit against the borrower in full on September 23.

Established in 1990, Nutritek operates seven factories producing baby and customized foods – five in Russia, one in Ukraine and one in New Zealand.
Nutritek first defaulted on Eurobonds redemption in late 2008. It then defaulted in ruble bonds retirement in mid-2009. Eventually, its debt totaled $200 million as of early 2010. Later, the company began to restructure the debt, but a number of creditors went to court.

Nutritek did not pay dividends for 2008 and 2009. The court put Nutrinvestholding into administration pending its bankruptcy.

UniCredit is a Russian commercial bank with international capital. It provides services for corporate and private clients and is engaged in corporate financing and treasury operations. It was founded in 1989 as International Moscow Bank. It runs 105 branches in Russia, one in Belarus and has almost 3,900 personnel.