| Date: | Monday November 10, @04:57AM |
|---|---|
| Author: | ewing2001 |
| Topic: | Corporate Crime |
| from the WP dept. | |
Other ties with Rothschild-Family
Update: Kukos, new head of Yukos, confirmed Khodorkovsky's Merger Talks with Exxon (BBC -11/12)
Update: Big Bush's September Visit in Russia (09/12)
Update: The Battle for Russia's Fossil Fuels Continues (Analysis by Charles Fama)
WP -Monday, November 10, 2003; Page E04
The arrest of two of Russia's top businessmen in recent months was more than a distant headline for Washington's well-connected private equity firm, Carlyle Group.
Carlyle, known for the glittering roster of former statesmen among its partners and advisers, has ties to both Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, the jailed Russian tycoons.
Khodorkovsky, 40, Russia's richest man and former chief executive of Yukos Oil Co., serves as an adviser to Carlyle's Energy Group.
He is among 15 luminaries who help the firm sort through investment opportunities in energy industries, along with former secretary of state James A. Baker III, former British prime minister John Major and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin.
Khodorkovsky was arrested last month by Russian authorities for alleged fraud and tax evasion. Because the billionaire is seen as a possible political rival to President Vladimir Putin, his arrest has unsettled the country's business community and worried foreign investors.
Carlyle spokesman Christopher W. Ullman declined to comment on the matter.
WashTimes - November 03, 2003
LONDON (Agence France-Presse) — Control of Mikhail Khodorkovsky's shares in the Russian oil giant Yukos have passed to renowned banker Jacob Rothschild, under a deal they concluded prior to Mr. Khodorkovsky's arrest, the Sunday Times reported.
Voting rights to the shares passed to Mr. Rothschild, 67, under a "previously unknown arrangement" designed to take effect in the event that Mr. Khodorkovsky could no longer "act as a beneficiary" of the shares, it said.
Mr. Khodorkovsky, 40, whom Russian authorities arrested at gunpoint and jailed pending further investigation last week, was said by the Sunday Times to have made the arrangement with Mr. Rothschild when he realized he was facing arrest.
Mr. Rothschild now controls the voting rights on a stake in Yukos worth almost $13.5 billion, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Moscow.
Mr. Khodorkovsky owns 4 percent of Yukos directly and 22 percent through a trust of which he is the sole beneficiary, according to Russian analysts.
From the figures reported in the Sunday Times, it appeared Mr. Rothschild had received control of all Mr. Khodorkovsky's shares.
The two have known each other for years "through their mutual love of the arts" and their positions as directors of the Open Russia Foundation, Yukos' philanthropic branch, it said.
By Charles Fama -10-11-03
While Putin's arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the attempted appropriation of his shares of YukosSibneft may look to many as a last ditch effort by the Kremlin to stop American control of Russia's oil resources, it's is only the tip of the iceberg.
The notion made by many that the arrest and prosecution of Yukos top managers is simply a pre-election stunt to gain popularity among the electorate and distance Russian businessmen from the political process is in my opinion completely laughable.
A deeper look into Russia's and America's roles in the natural gas market is needed to adequately understand the current Yukos situation. Lets take a look back to September of 2003 and the Russian-American energy summit in St.Petersburg. Large-scale supplies of Russian gas to the American market were the main hope during the recent summit. There is no doubt that no large-scale supplies of Russian oil are to be made to the USA.
The state-run monopolies have managed to preserve the national status of Russia's oil pipelines which means that export opportunities of oil oligarchs are now dependant upon their competitors from state-run companies. It means that American or British trans-national companies will get their profits from selling the Russian oil immediately in Russia. This fact explains the merger of Russia's TNK with British Petroleum and the sale of the blocking interest of the recently merged company YukosSibneft.
But the situation is quite different concerning Russian gas. In America supply and demand for natural gas are delicately balanced. However, natural gas prices are significantly higher than this time last year; some prices have doubled for gas purchased by the companies that supply it to consumers. Storage levels are at near record lows while demand for natural gas is growing.
In the short term, increases in demand due to weather (hot summer and/or cold winter) could stress the supply/demand balance. Also, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico could disrupt offshore natural gas production and reduce supply. 80 percent of new electric generating capacity is natural gas fired. The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration forecasts that natural gas demand will grow by more than 50 percent by 2025. The new domestic fields being found are smaller and have shorter lives. In contrast to the American natural gas situation Russia is the greatest natural gas producer and exporter in the world.
American agreements with Russia on natural gas have to this point failed because signing of contracts by state-run companies and other companies close to them would have caused a severe blow against the confronting group headed by Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky. They are now the leaders inciting the anti-Putin campaign in the USA.
According to some sources, Boris Berezovsky spent a million of dollars on purchase of advertising in US's newspapers and magazines to publish his anti-Putin letter addressed to President Bush. Signing of contracts with Gazprom, Rosneft and other companies would mean that the American elite supports the pro-Putin group and betrays its old allies such as Khodorkovsky.
During the Russian-American energy summit the USA was also warned that the last resort may be used: it was said that the natural resources may be nationalized and all extracting companies will thus become sub-contractors of the government. The appropriation of Khodorkovsky's shares in Yukos by the Kremlin would have crushed any leverage the United States has in dealing with Russia in concerns to natural gas.
It was first reported by the Washington times that Khodorkovsky passed his shares of Yukos to Jacob Rothschild prior to his arrest. This may have been prompted by a visit to Russia from Bush Sr. in September. While no direct statement was made as to the nature of his visit it was speculated that he was on business for the Carlyle Group.
Both Bush Sr. and Khodorkovsky are both advisors for the pentagon-connected Carlyle Group. Lord Rothschild sits on the Board of Trustee's of the Open Russia Foundation, a charitable organization formed by Yukos in 2001. Khodorkovsky and none other than Henry Kissinger are fellow board members.
Simon Kukes, a Russian born American national was then named to replace Khodorkovsky as head of Yukos. It should also be mentioned that Russia lost out dearly in Iraq due to America's liberation of the country. Prior to the war Russia held the rights to sell 40 percent of Iraq's oil.
Since the end of the war new contracts have been written to sell Iraq's oil with British Petroleum, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, ChevronTexaco, Petrobras of Brazil, China's Sinochem International, and France's TotalFinaElf. The attempted nationalization of Yukos by Putin has thus far failed. It sits even more snuggly in the arms of corporate America than ever before. The outcome of the battle for Russia's natural gas companies is yet to be seen.
Moscow Times -Friday, Sep. 12, 2003. Page 1
By Catherine Belton
He may be retired from public life but George Bush seems to cause a stir every time he comes to Russia.
You name it and market players were buzzing Thursday about the real reasons behind the former American leader's visit -- an $18 billion play by U.S. oil giant ChevronTexaco for a blocking stake in the new Yukos-Sibneft combo? The launch of a $500 million private tie-up between Alfa Group and Pentagon-connected Carlyle Group? Divvying up the hydrocarbon resources of postwar Iraq?
Late Wednesday, before Bush Sr. had even left, traders in New York had already heard word that he was heading to Russia to help clear the way for the sale of a strategic stake in YukosSibneft to ChevronTexaco, which named one of its tankers after Condoleezza Rice, a former board member who is now his son's national security adviser.
But it didn't stop there. The buzz continued Thursday as news spread that Bush was also here to help finalize the creation of a $500 million private equity fund between Russian oil-to-telecoms giant Alfa and one of his present employers, the Carlyle Group, a defense industry insider that counts former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and former British Prime Minister John Major among its advisers.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow would not comment on Bush's visit, saying only that it was "private." What is known, however, is that he will meet with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Sunday, when he arrives in Moscow from St. Petersburg. The Kremlin, too, declined to say what was on the agenda.
It is also known that Bush will deliver the keynote speech at a dinner Monday evening for Russian business leaders -- including Yukos founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky -- on behalf of Carlyle.
"We use him to speak at conferences and events," said Carlyle's London-based spokeswoman Katherine Elmore-Jones. Jones, however, would not say if a new private equity fund would be officially announced, but did say that the deal, which the Financial Times first reported is in the works, was still being discussed.
But with U.S.-Russia energy ties high on the agenda for both nations and a bilateral summit on the issue scheduled to begin in St. Petersburg in 10 days, all eyes were on Chevron and its possible purchase of a 25 percent plus one share stake in the new YukosSibneft. The Sunday Times last month quoted anonymous sources close to the deal as saying it was near completion.
Yukos shares jumped more than 4 percent on the news in early trading Thursday.
"This rumor is based on Bush's visit. He is probably going to discuss the acquisition of a stake in YukosSibneft by a major U.S. oil company," a prominent investment banker said.
He said the rumor is that Yukos' sale of a strategic stake to Chevron would be announced at the St. Petersburg summit.
But neither Yukos nor ChevronTexaco would comment on what both companies called "market speculation."
However, other investment bankers were very specific, saying the price for the deal had already been agreed -- a staggering $18.6 billion for 25 percent plus one share, half in cash and half in ChevronTexaco stock, which would be a huge premium over the combined market value of the companies.
But with Yukos under fire from the Kremlin for its moves to finance opposition parties amid a massive bout of infighting between clans in the Kremlin itself, analysts said it seemed that most of the buzz was coming from Yukos.
"Yukos is pushing this, given that there is the possibility of a renewed attack against the company during the election campaign," said Christopher Weafer, chief strategist at Alfa Bank. "Yukos is trying to bend a deal to suit its own purposes, for protection.
"The attack on Yukos in July turned out to be hugely popular with the electorate and they fear the Kremlin might launch something again," Weafer said. Core Yukos shareholder Platon Lebedev was arrested that month for allegedly stealing property in a 1994 privatization.
Weafer said Yukos shareholders appeared to be trying to play two U.S. oil majors, Chevron and ExxonMobil, off of each other in a bid to push the deal along.
"There is room for one more deal in the pipeline. Getting a third [sale of a Russian oil company to a foreign company] approved will be much more difficult," he said. Rival global oil giant BP's recent $6.35 billion deal for a 50-50 partnership with Alfa and Access/Renova's Tyumen Oil Co. boosted BP's global ranking and set off a race between other global oil majors to be the next to clinch the next big deal in one of the fastest-growing oil patches in the world.
Executives from both Chevron and Exxon have been in Moscow for months conducting due diligence studies on Yukos and Sibneft. One market insider said "they are only here because the other one is here."
Joseph Stanislaw, the president of the influential Washington-based think tank Cambridge Energy Research Associates, said by telephone that a race certainly seemed to have started for Russia's oil resources, especially because Iraq, which has the world's second-largest reserves, is still in chaos.
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printed from Arrested Russian Oilmen had Carlyle Ties on 2004-06-03 06:51:16