Stanislav discussed the following aspects of bringing a class action claim against issuers and guarantors of Eurobonds:
Typically, such claims contradict Eurobond prospectuses, which establish special rules for asserting claims against the issuer. For example, the issue documentation often sets qualitative thresholds (e.g. 25%+ of the issue value) for initiating a dispute, while the procedural law sets quantitative requirements for a group (e.g. at least 5 or 20 participants), which are much easier to meet.
Bringing a class action allows to circumvent the arbitration clause even where the Russian courts do not have exclusive jurisdiction. Issuers and guarantors incur additional expenses as such lawsuits are initiated in a jurisdiction and under the rules that were envisaged when the Eurobonds were issued.
Class action is still a 'raw' procedure, and it is not adapted to such disputes to take into account the specific features of each bond issue. In addition, class action may have negative effect on other bondholders who have not joined the group of plaintiffs or filed an independent claim causing protracted consideration of disputes with bondholders.