Deutsche Bank, UniCredit, Commerzbank, Bayerische Landesbank, and LBBW are embroiled in legal battles with Linde in German courts, seeking over $1 billion in total. The dispute stems from a 2021 contract where Linde Engineering agreed to build a gas processing and LNG plant with RusChemAlliance, a Gazprom joint venture, near St Petersburg. European banks provided guarantees for Linde's performance, but when EU sanctions led Linde to withdraw from the project in May 2022, the banks refused to pay out on the guarantees, citing sanctions compliance.
This refusal led Russian courts to seize roughly $1 billion in assets from the banks. UniCredit, for instance, lost approximately $463 million, Deutsche Bank about $239 million, and Commerzbank about $94 million, with additional sums from Bayerische Landesbank and LBBW. The complexity of the situation is highlighted by UniCredit's Russian subsidiary suing its own German arm, illustrating the absurd lengths to which banks were compelled to litigate against themselves.
The core of the legal question in Frankfurt, where the first hearing was held on July 14, 2026, is who bears the cost of private losses incurred due to public policy sanctions. Deutsche Bank is seeking $260 million, UniCredit $460 million, and Commerzbank nearly $100 million from Linde. Linde's argument is that the indemnity agreements with the banks were not meant to cover the expropriation of assets by a foreign state. The case is a test of whether European companies obeying sanctions should be liable to their own banks for the consequences.
