MOSCOW, June 20 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has sided with Gazprombank in its lawsuit against bankrupt Taganrog Motor Works (TagAZ).

The lawsuit centered on two loans issued to the car manufacturer in 2008: one for 118.4 million euros and the other for $ 14.4 million. Both were set to mature in December 2009. TagAZ has partially repaid the principal amount –  the last payments were made in October and November 2011.

With respect to the first loan agreement, the court has ordered TagAZ to repay 49.473 million euros, of which 45.8 million euros is the principal debt and 3.6 million euros is the interest. As concerns the second loan, the court has collected $702,000 - $656,700  in principal debt and $45,900 in interest. In addition, the court has enforced the pledge of TagAZ vehicles and levied execution on its assembly building.

At the hearing, Gazprombank noted that the bank made concessions to the plant: it waived fines and penalties stipulated by the agreements, and applied a floating interest rate to encourage the debtor repay its liabilities.

TagAZ filed for bankruptcy in April. Its debts reached 20 billion rubles ($615 million) after production dropped by three times in 2009. In 2010, the plant managed to come to an agreement with most of its creditors on debt restructuring, with the exception of VTB. TagAZ owed the bank 5.8 billion rubles ($178 million). In 2010, VTB filed several lawsuits against the plant.

TagAZ was founded in February 1997 and launched a joint venture with the South Korean Hyundai in 2001. The plant could simultaneously produce up to six different car models on its primary conveyor. The plant's production capacity was 180,000 vehicles per year.