TheChek News Flow

Ex-wife of Russian tycoon Vladimir Potanin wins right to bring divorce case to London

Legal experts say ruling will help secure the city’s reputation as world’s ‘divorce capital’

The ex-wife of Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin has won an appeal to bring a multibillion-pound divorce case in England, helping cement London’s reputation as the “divorce capital of the world”.

The Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday that Natalia Potanina can proceed with her claim, which could become one of the biggest settlement cases recorded in the country.

Divorce lawyers said the long-running Potanin case could have significant implications for “divorce tourism”, in which spouses turn to the English courts to obtain more favourable payouts than they could elsewhere.

London has earned a reputation for attracting high-value divorce claims from foreign parties because of the perceived generosity of England’s courts in awarding large settlements to financially weaker former partners.

Peter Burgess, partner at Burgess Mee, said the ruling “further cements London’s position as the divorce capital of the world” and for wealthy individuals “who have been badly served abroad, this judgment will be very welcome”.

Potanin, who is among Russia’s wealthiest oligarchs, was sanctioned by the UK government over his connections with the Kremlin after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

He married Potanina in Russia in 1983, but the couple divorced in 2014. The courts in Russia awarded her approximately $40mn but she subsequently brought a claim for financial relief in England, arguing she was entitled to a far larger share of her ex-husband’s fortune.

She has contended that she is entitled to an award of about $6bn, when including wealth tied up in trusts and companies in which her ex-husband is a beneficial owner.

Potanina filed her divorce claim in England seven years ago but the complex case has dragged out. The High Court blocked her claim in 2019 on the basis that the couple had little connection with the UK.

Mr Justice Jonathan Cohen said at the time that if it proceeded, there would in effect be “no limit to divorce tourism”.

But the Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled that this judgment was wrong and Potanina had “solid” grounds for bringing a claim in London.

The panel of three judges said Potanina, although a Russian national, had a “real and meaningful connection” to England, having obtained a UK investor visa and purchased a property in London in 2014.

She had “very largely severed her ties with Russia”, the court said.

Lord Justice Stephen Cobb, Lord Justice Andrew Moylan and Lady Justice Sarah Falk said Potanina was “well placed” to present a strong case that “the outcome of the Russian matrimonial proceedings had been unjust to her”.

The judges said Potanina could make a persuasive case that “having regard to the lavish lifestyle which she had enjoyed while married, her reasonable needs would not be met by the Russian award”.

Hayley Trim, a partner at Irwin Mitchell and a specialist in divorce law, said it was a “landmark decision” that “reinforces the role of the English courts in international divorce proceedings”.

However, Sarah Jane Lenihan, a partner at Dawson Cornwell, said: “The wife may understandably have felt dissatisfied with the Russian settlement, but that alone should not make England the forum of choice.

“Our family courts are already stretched to capacity. However sympathetic one may be to her position, we cannot become the family court of the world.”

Burgess said the case “may still have some way to go as it remains open to Mr Potanin to seek a further appeal to the Supreme Court”.

Tie-up marks push to pitch private investments to everyday investors

Goldman Sachs has agreed to invest as much as $1bn in US asset manager T Rowe Price as part of a tie-up in which the two businesses will pitch private investments to retail and wealth clients.

Goldman said on Thursday it would buy T Rowe Price shares on the open market and expected to own up to 3.5 per cent of the investment group, making it one of the Baltimore-based company’s largest shareholders.

The investment is the latest tie-up between traditional investment managers such as T Rowe Price and giants in private market investing, amid an all-out push by the industry to begin offering stakes in leveraged buyout funds and private credit vehicles to everyday investors.

Goldman and T Rowe Price plan to offer target date funds — where portfolios are adjusted over time based on a retiree’s age and expected retirement date — and model portfolios to investment advisers, mixing both publicly traded and privately held assets.

The partnership arrives as each of the major US asset managers attempts to stake out their own strategy in private equity and credit, as well as real estate and infrastructure investing.

Vanguard has formed a strategic alliance with Wellington Management and Blackstone, while Capital Group has teamed up with buyout pioneer KKR. BlackRock has forged ahead into private markets with an acquisition spree of its own, buying investment groups Global Infrastructure Partners and HPS Investment Partners.

T Rowe Price has struggled over the past five years as the investing public has shifted to low-cost exchange traded funds and passively managed bond funds over actively managed funds. That has resulted in a wave of redemption requests from clients, sending its stock down more than 20 per cent over the period before accounting for dividends.

Chief executive Rob Sharps said the deal with Goldman would build “on our broad capabilities across public and private markets to offer clients the ability to unlock the potential of private capital”.

For Goldman, the deal offers a road map for its asset management arm to tap the millions of retail investors — and 401k retirement plan participants — who may soon have access to the world of private markets.

The US investment bank has long offered private investment funds — including its flagship private credit franchise — to large endowments, pensions and sovereign wealth funds. But as those institutional investors have slowed their pace of deployment, the industry has looked to retail investors and wealthy individuals to power its future growth.

US President Donald Trump last month signed an executive order that sought to pave the way for the inclusion of private equity and credit in 401k plans, following a heavy lobbying push.

“With Goldman Sachs’ decades of leadership innovating across public and private markets, and T Rowe Price’s expertise in active investing, clients can invest confidently in the new opportunities for retirement savings and wealth creation,” said Goldman chief executive David Solomon.

T Rowe Price shares rose 8 per cent in pre-market trading to $114.07. Goldman shares were unchanged.

Gazprom’s planned Siberian pipeline to Beijing is a geopolitical pivot with global repercussions

Russia and China have just reshaped the global gas game without signing a single supply contract. The proposed Power of Siberia 2 (PoS2) pipeline would deliver up to 50 BCM of gas per year from the Russian Arctic to northern China via Mongolia. The deal marks a geopolitical pivot and the signal it sends — to Washington and LNG markets — is already echoing far beyond the negotiating table.

Vladimir Putin seems to have weighed Donald Trump’s rumoured offer in Alaska — sanctions relief, recognition of Crimea, a frozen front line — and chosen long-term strategic alignment with China over tactical gains from the west. China, in turn, abandoned its studied ambiguity. By signing PoS2, it has signalled its readiness to escalate confrontation with the US amid a deepening trade war.

Since it invaded Ukraine, Russia has courted China as a major gas customer. Beijing responded with caution, maintaining commodity purchases but freezing direct investment and joint projects from 2022 onwards. That has now changed.

The PoS2 deal could reshape demand forecasts, investment decisions and contract strategies across global gas markets. Expectations of growing Chinese demand underpin today’s LNG investment cycle. A pivot to piped Russian gas — even a gradual and conditional one — undermines assumptions of tight markets in the 2030s. The message to LNG exporters — especially those in the US who see China as a growth market in the 2030s — is clear: China will need less gas, and on better terms.

The Russian-Chinese memorandum formalises intent but defers substance. The real negotiation over the gas supply agreement will rest on four key parameters: price, take-or-pay obligations, financing and timing. On all four, Beijing holds the stronger hand. On price, China is unlikely to accept anything close to European or market-based Asian benchmarks. Instead, it will push for a price somewhere between Russian domestic rates and the oil-linked formula used in Power of Siberia 1, already the lowest-priced pipeline gas in China’s portfolio. That would secure a cheap long-term supply for China and offer minimal margins for Gazprom. It also provides China with bargaining power while reinforcing its industrial and energy security.

Long-term gas contracts typically require buyers to pay for a minimum volume whether or not they take delivery. Looser terms would give Beijing maximum flexibility and growing influence over global spot prices and contract design. Combined with the expansion of Chinese trading houses and demand-side flexibility, this positions China as a swing player in the global gas market — capable of shaping prices, arbitrage flows and investment cycles.

Russian pipelines have typically been funded solely by Gazprom. But the $14bn PoS2 could change that. Gazprom’s CEO Alexei Miller recently referred to “discussing financing mechanisms”. China’s provision of loans or capital could alter the project’s economics, easing Gazprom’s financial strain and making the pipeline more viable. It would also mark a turning point in bilateral economic ties. Since 2022, Chinese companies have largely withheld investment in Russia’s energy sector. A Chinese financial stake in PoS2 would reopen that door.

China’s leverage is most visible with regard to the project’s timing. The supply agreement can be delayed indefinitely; PoS2 gives China the right — but not the obligation — to draw on discounted Russian gas in the future. Russia, by contrast, has already made its alignment public, with no guarantee of commercial returns. This asymmetry reflects the broader power dynamics. Russia seeks to project resilience and re-anchor its gas exports eastward. For China, the pipeline is a hedge, an option to be exercised at its convenience.

The strategic implications extend well beyond China and Russia. For the US and the LNG industry, the impact will be immediate. Even though PoS2 gas will not flow until the 2030s, it is already altering expectations. Buyers, project developers, and banks are all watching closely; if China relies more on Russian pipeline gas in the next decade, that reshapes LNG portfolio math today. A shift towards Russia — with flexible volumes and lower prices — could derail some projects before they reach final investment decisions.

A prolonged LNG oversupply could depress prices into the next decade and delay new capacity. Meanwhile, China’s new role as a swing player gives it unprecedented market influence and signals a new phase in the China-Russia-US energy triangle.

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