A Swiss court expert has estimated the value of the last undivided asset of Andrei Zubitsky and Victoria Kazak at 300 million euros

A Swiss court is continuing the property division trial between steel magnate Andrei Zubitsky and his ex-wife Victoria Kazak. As part of the case, a court-appointed expert has completed a preliminary assessment of the value of the Dutch company Dilon Cooperatief Group, which remains the last major undivided asset between the ex-spouses.

Thus, he estimated 82% of the company at €300 million. At the same time, both sides of the process dispute the results of the expertise: Andrei Zubitsky considers the value of the company overestimated, and Victoria Kazak - underestimated.

As lawyer Nikolay Chernov, representing Victoria Kazak, explained to Izvestia, the court is currently valuing only 82% of Dilon Cooperatief Group, as another 18% of the company belongs to one of Zubitsky's relatives, although, according to his client, these shares also belong to Andrei Zubitsky. Victoria Kazak considers the preliminary value to be underestimated, based on the fact that the valuation was made primarily on the basis of publicly available documents. This, accordingly, did not allow taking into account internal development plans and business prospects.

Andrei Zubitsky's side, in turn, bases its arguments on the fact that the expert took as a basis documents for only one year, which was a record year in terms of financial performance. At the same time, less successful periods in the company's history were not taken into account.

In addition, it is possible that the valuation of Dilon Cooperatief Group may be affected by the potential sale of Zubicki's stake in Slovenian Steel Group (SIJ), which Slovenian media wrote about in the spring of 2024. Thus, Dilon Cooperatief through its subsidiary Dilon d.o.o. owns 72% of SIJ, and Zubicki holds the position of chairman of the board there.SIJ is Slovenia's largest steel company. It had a turnover of €1.3 billion in 2022 and paid €52 million in dividends to shareholders, although SIJ was criticized for this by Slovenia's economy minister because at the same time SIJ applied for a state subsidy forelectricity. Thus, according to Nikolaj Černov, if this asset is sold for a conditionally higher price, it will immediately raise the value of Dilon Cooperatief Group.

The divorce process between Andrei Zubitsky and Victoria Kazak has been going on since 2017. A number of trials took place in Russia, but now the main processes are going on abroad. During this time, Victoria Kazak has already received from her ex-husband in 2018 16% of the metallurgical company PJSC Koks, which she sold at the end of 2021.