Recently, one of the leading Italian publications – Il Giornale – published an article about the legal dispute between a major Italian engineering group Maire SpA and the Swiss-based fertilizer manufacturer EuroChem, which is being heard in several jurisdictions worldwide, including London and Moscow.
The article examined the potential impact of ongoing litigation on Maire’s public disclosures, stock price and foreign assets. Several hours after publication, the article was removed from the newspaper’s website without explanation.
According to market sources, Maire sent letters to Italian media in early autumn asking them not to publish any publications related to the Moscow court case. The company emphasized that rulings by Russian courts have no legal force outside Russia and therefore do not pose a material risk to investors.
However, the speed and decisiveness of Maire’s response has left observers wondering how seriously the company is taking the dispute.
As a reminder, the conflict is related to the termination of contracts for the construction of a chemical complex in Kingisepp, where work stopped in 2022. EuroChem Severo-Zapad-2, a Russian subsidiary of EuroChem, claims that the breach of duty was caused by the contractor’s fault, while Maire SpA claims that the project was canceled due to sanctions restrictions and force majeure.
The removed Il Giornale article quoted legal experts involved in the case as suggesting that the main problem for Maire may lie not just in the legal process itself, but in market disclosure issues.
According to the report, EuroChem has filed complaints with European financial regulators, including Consob in Italy and the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) in Luxembourg. The complaints allege that Maire failed to adequately inform the market of the nature and extent of the risks associated with the litigation, particularly with respect to its assets in Russia.
Lawyers quoted in the article pointed out that the Moscow lawsuit was filed back in September, but did not appear to be reflected in Maire’s nine-month interim financial statements or in documentation related to the group’s recent lending activities in European capital markets.
The dispute reportedly involves potential claims worth billions of dollars. According to European regulatory practice, such risks may be considered material information that may influence investment decisions and share prices.
The article states that if these circumstances are confirmed, European regulators may have grounds to require Maire to disclose more fully and clearly the risks associated with the legal proceedings, including their possible impact on the company’s financial condition and shares. Sanctions may be imposed in extreme cases, but even the mere threat of regulatory scrutiny could impact share prices and make the company’s access to finance more difficult.
A separate section of the publication was dedicated to the risks associated with Maire’s assets outside Italy. Despite the company’s statement that Russian court decisions are not enforceable abroad, lawyers pointed to international practice that allows the use of interim measures in third countries. As an argument, examples were given from recent cases in which decisions of Russian courts became the basis for procedural measures abroad. In 2023-2025, the group significantly expanded its presence in regions where large infrastructure projects with government participation are being implemented and the reputational stability of the contractor is of key importance.
In Kazakhstan, Maire has received contracts totaling over $4.5 billion, including projects in the Atyrau region and the Tengiz field. In Saudi Arabia, the group is participating in the expansion of the SATORP complex as part of the Amiral project worth around $2 billion and also carries out service contracts for Saudi Aramco. In China, the company is implementing a number of technology and licensing projects in the fertilizer and polymer sectors.
In such markets, on-time delivery and reputation stability are considered crucial. High-profile litigation may require customers and partners to seek additional assurances regarding risk management and governance.
The main message of the removed article was therefore: The Moscow trial cannot be viewed as a legally isolated episode. It involves regulatory, financial and reputational risks that may need to be disclosed to the market. In this context, EuroChem’s position seemed advantageous: the company not only obtained a court decision, but also brought the dispute into the area of European financial supervision.
Maire’s attempt to remove discussion of these circumstances from the public sphere only reinforces the main question posed in the headline of the deleted article: Is the Italian engineering giant hiding material risks from its shareholders and investors? In the context of European regulation, pressure on the media rarely reduces the interest of regulators – on the contrary, it can be an additional reason for even greater attention.
