Sanctioned oligarchs take stake in largest UK oil agency | EUROtoday

Two sanctioned Russian oligarchs have develop into part-owners of the UK’s largest oil producer after it accomplished a deal to purchase a German agency.

LetterOne, the funding firm part-owned by oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, now owns almost 15% of Harbour Energy.

LetterOne itself is just not sanctioned, and the 2 Russians don’t have any contact with the agency and do not obtain any share of its earnings.

Harbour Energy is the most important oil and fuel producer in UK waters. It has purchased a lot of the oil and fuel manufacturing belongings of a Germany-based agency, Wintershall DEA, from the chemical substances large BASF.

LetterOne was a part-owner of Wintershall, and shares have been exchanged for shares in Harbour Energy.

Some of Wintershall’s Russia-linked belongings, together with a three way partnership with Gazprom, will not be a part of the deal and stay with BASF.

Under the phrases of the deal, LetterOne can have no voting rights in Harbour Energy, however it can obtain a share of Harbour’s earnings paid as dividends.

LetterOne’s shares may probably convert into voting shares if the 2 Russians stop to be sanctioned.

LetterOne owns a various vary of belongings world wide, price $18bn (£13.8bn), together with the well being meals retailer Holland and Barrett.

Fridman and Aven have been sanctioned in March 2022 shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Together they personal just below 50% of the group. Most of the remainder is owned by one other Russian, Andrei Kosogov, who is just not sanctioned.

The authorities pressured LetterOne to promote a regional broadband supplier, Upp, in 2022 over fears that it represented a “risk to national security”.

LetterOne denied this and is interesting the choice.

Louis Wilson, head of fossil gas investigations at marketing campaign group Global Witness, mentioned: “The UK government and Harbour should have run a mile from this deal.

“A company part-owned by sanctioned Russian oligarchs, which the Tories considered too much of a security risk to own a few thousand UK broadband connections, has been given a big chunk of the UK’s biggest oil producer.

“Oligarchs shouldn’t have any place within the UK’s vitality business’’.

A LetterOne spokesperson mentioned: “LetterOne is committed to making long-term investments in businesses that matter.

“We are proud to be part of a bigger, stronger UK energy business that will bolster energy security, increase investment and create jobs while helping deliver the nation’s ambitious energy transition goals.”

Harbour Energy declined to remark.