Invesmart, Goldman Sachs agree on Union banka's restructuring

The future of Union banka (UB) remains uncertain as board members and owners push competing plans for the failed bank's assets. Representatives at investment group Invesmart, the Italian majority owner of Union banka, were successful April 4 in reversing an earlier court decision permitting managers to declare bankruptcy at Ceska revitalizacni -- a company set up earlier to hold UB's assets. The judge in the case told the Czech News Agency that he had canceled the March 31 bankruptcy decision because lawyers had submitted forged documents to the court. Many observers have speculated that UB managers moved the assets in an effort to escape regulatory oversight of the Czech National Bank, which revoked the bank's license March 18. Ceska revitalizacni is not registered in the nation's commercial registry. Justice Minister Pavel Rychetsky, interviewed by newspaper Hospodarske noviny, described Judge Jiri Berka's actions in the original bankruptcy decision as highly irregular. He said Berka had somehow managed to hear the case despite having 150 other bankruptcy petitions sitting on his desk, including 46 older than three years.