LetterOne Received 15% in Harbour Energy after Closing the Wintershall Deal
LetterOne International Investment Group, founded by Russian entrepreneurs Mikhail Fridman, Peter Aven and Alexey Kuzmichev, has received a 15% stake in the Scottish oil production company Harbour Energy. According to a statement released by Harbour Energy, on Wednesday the company closed a deal to acquire assets of the German Wintershall Dea in Algeria, Argentina, Germany, Denmark, Egypt, Libya, Norway and Mexico.
“Harbour Energy has completed the acquisition of Wintershall Dea‘s mining assets. This is an important step towards making HarbourEnergy one of the largest independent oil and gas companies operating worldwide,“ the statement said.
As a result, LetterOne and British BASF, which were shareholders of Wintershall Dea, received 54.5% in the combined Harbour Area. Wintershall Dea‘s joint ventures with Russian participation and its pipeline business were not part of the deal. As stated in LetterOne, the investment group is “proud to be part of the British energy industry, which is expanding and strengthening,“ and intends to participate “in strengthening the energy security of the kingdom, increase investments and create new jobs.“
As The Guardian draws attention to, the British government has been criticized for approving the deal despite the fact that Friedman and Aven are under sanctions.
“It is completely incomprehensible that the Labor government has agreed to keep a key national asset in the hands of oligarchs. Ensuring energy security is an important issue for national security,“ said “Deputy Foreign Minister“ in the Conservative shadow government, Alisha Kearns, quoted by the publication.
Sanctions against Friedman and Aven
Friedman and Aven own 49% of LetterOne shares, while being under sanctions in the UK and the EU. The chairman of the Board of Directors of LetterOne is a British banker, member of the House of Lords and former Minister of Trade, Investment and Business of the country (2009-2010), Labour Mervyn Davis. He emphasizes that after the departure of Friedman, Aven and their partners from all positions at LetterOne in early March 2022, the sanctioned Russian billionaires are no longer involved in the management of the group. Their shares in LetterOne were frozen as a result of the sanctions imposed against them.
On April 10, the European Court of General Jurisdiction granted the claims of businessmen Aven and Friedman to the EU Council for the lifting of EU sanctions imposed against them. These decisions relate only to the period from February 2022 to March 2023 and do not automatically exclude entrepreneurs from the EU blacklist – a separate decision of the EU Council is necessary for this.
