MOSCOW, August 10 - RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court postponed until September 27 a hearing on a lawsuit by Sigma Capital Partners to validate the right of pledge to 484 shares (12.1 percent) of the telecommunication company SMARTS, the court told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Friday.

The hearing was postponed due to the substitution of a judge and the heavy workload of the commercial court assessors who could not be present at the hearing.

The plaintiff has asked the court to order SMARTS to reflect its shares encumbrance in its shareholders ledger. The plaintiff has also petitioned the court to enforce the pledge of shares initially estimated at $29.561 million.

Sigma said that it received the pledge over the shares from Foreign Economic Bank (VEB). The bank ordered Reestr to transfer the pledge to Sigma, but the registrar denied the transfer in January 2008 because it was no longer a registrar. Moreover, such a step requires the pledgor's consent. SMARTS is presently acting as the registrar.

Barnet Associates Limited, which owns 382 of the shares in dispute, VEB, Reestr and the SMARTS chairman of the board, who previously held all the disputed shares, are co-defendants in the lawsuit.

According to the records, VEB granted a $56.3 million loan to Angentro Trading and Investments, a SMARTS shareholder. SMARTS pledged its 484 shares to VEB as security for the loan.

The lender requested early repayment on December 7, 2005. The following day, VEB assigned its claims to Sigma, together with the pledge.

In September 2006, Sigma assigned its claims to Angentro Trading and Investments and the pledge to SoyuzInvest in September 2006. However, the parties terminated their contract in October 2007 and Sigma required the SMARTS' registrar to process the pledge transfer.

SMARTS is a major telecommunications holding company established in Samara in 1991.