Russia's Alfa wins debt suit against Deripaska firm

MOSCOW, March 20 (Reuters) - Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Bank won a lawsuit against indebted tycoon Oleg Deripaska's construction firm on Friday, days after the two promised to negotiate on Deripaska's debts to the bank. The Moscow Arbitration Court ordered Glavstroi, a construction company owned by Deripaska's Basic Element group, to pay back a 502.6 million rouble ($14.86 million) loan to Alfa-Bank, Glavstroi said. Though small, the award drew protest from the construction firm, which faces a put offer on a 4 billion rouble bond on March 23. "Alfa Bank's tough stance against Basic Element has not changed a bit despite assertions from the bank's board member Mikhail Fridman that he intends to hold a constructive dialogue and seek mutually acceptable solutions to the problem of debt," a Glavstroi spokesman said. The two announced peaceful intentions on Tuesday, a few hours after Fridman met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Alfa Bank has been pursuing more than $1 billion in debt from Deripaska, whose aluminium giant RUSAL is in restructuring talks with creditors. Basic Element said its companies' total debt to Alfa Bank is about $650 million. Alfa filed six suits totalling 1 billion roubles ($29.6 million) against Glavstroi, which is facing a total of 4 billion roubles in claims in the Moscow Arbitration Court, the court's website (www.msk.arbitr.ru) said. Glavstroi also faces 2.2 billion roubles in claims from state bank VTB, the court said. On Friday, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, in charge of Russia's anti-crisis measures, said some Russian investors had taken on too much debt during economic boom times and suffered "injuries incompatible with life". Real estate and construction businesses are among Russia's hardest hit. Deripaska has divested some foreign assets and has until April 3 to refinance debt secured by his stake in his other construction interest, Austria's Strabag. Last month, Glavstroi sold its St Petersburg unit to banking and mining tycoon Suleiman Kerimov, who is seeking an equity stake in indebted Moscow based developer and construction firm PIK, Vedomosti daily said on Friday.