...
Nothing really all that Earth-shaking here, but if you want to know “more” about that Caymen Account, at the center of that Russian nesting-doll called Rosneft — then this post may be for you.
I’ve followed a very sparse “virtual” Paper trail, concerning that 19.5% of Rosneft — that mysterious changed hands back in December 2016, to its “shell company” owner(s) in Singapore. That sale of Rosneft was so mysterious, that even its own Board of Directors claimed to be caught off-guard by it.
[For more background ...]
December 5 – QHG Holding created. One partner is QHG Cayman Limited registered in the Cayman islands.
December 7 and 8 – Russia Announces a sale of 19.5% of the state owned oil company, Rosneft to Glencore and Qatar Investment Authority. However, contributions by both don’t seem to equate to the amount of sale (only about 300 million Euro) It is impossible to find all the owners for 10.2 bn Euros8, however, Russia and Rosneft benefit from the lifting of sanctions by accessing the market for oil, including drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Also, there is a benefit from Russia having the Ukraine as most gas pipelines from Russia to the rest of Europe go through the Ukraine9.
December 8 – Carter Page visits Moscow10 to “meet with business leaders and thought leaders” including “top managers of Rosneft”11.
Funny how Dec 2016 was such a “popular month” for meeting with Russian Bankers, and such.
Glencore couldn’t come up with its half of the Capital by the way, so a Russian Bank floated it a “bridge loan”, until the Italian Bank could approve the Glencore loan — in spite of the Sanctions on the “collateral”.
Though Glencore and QIA appear to 50/50 owners (at the outer shell level) — it seems that Glencore was primarily responsible for the “paperwork” … resulting in the creation of the Cayman Account (and its own brokering of the shares):
Rosneft’s Shareholders as of March 1, 2017*
|
Number of Shares |
Equity Stake, % |
JSC ROSNEFTEGAZ1 (shareholder) |
5,299,088,910 |
50.00000001 |
BP Russian Investments Limited (shareholder) |
2,092,900,097 |
19.75 |
QHG Shares Pte. Ltd. (shareholder) |
2,066,727,473 |
19.50 |
National Settlement Depository (nominal shareholder central depository) |
1,098,868,260 |
10.37 |
Other legal entities |
1,437,915 |
0.01 |
Russian Federation (through the Federal Agency for State Property Management) |
1 |
less than 0.01 |
Individuals |
39,043,304 |
0.37 |
Unknown |
111,857 |
less than 0.01 |
Total |
10,598,177,817 |
100.00 |
Here’s the “paper-trail” on that QHG Shares Pte. Ltd entity, the innermost-shell company ...
MILLENIA TOWER, 1 Temasek Avenue Singapore 039192
This company is located on the street of Temasek Avenue and is situated in District 01 of Singapore
Company Information & Details
QHG SHARES PTE. LTD.
Updated On: 10 Jan 2017 SGT 10:51:55
Registration No. (UEN): 201633442Z Status: LIVE
Incorporation Date: 8 December 2016
Marker Icon 1 TEMASEK AVENUE #34-01 MILLENIA TOWER SINGAPORE 039192
From the Business Directory of the MILLENIA TOWER, that office suite number #34-01 is occupied by:
CHEMOIL INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD.
1 Temasek Avenue Millenia Tower #34-01 Singapore 039192
Tel: +65 68808200
Website: www.chemoil.com
Email: pr@chemoil.com
Here’s Chemoil’s website, and guess who has controlling ownership of this Oil-supplier company — turns out its Glencore.
1981 Founded by Robert Chandran and started operations in Long Beach
1997 New York Operations commenced
2000 Expanded into the Singapore market through Chemoil-ITC
2010 Glencore becomes majority owner of Chemoil
So the Glencore used one it’s subsidiaries in Singapore, as the Office Address for QHG Shares Pte. Ltd, the ultimate ownership of which is coyly held in private, by 200-some shares …
forbes.ru
QHG Shares Pte. Ltd, associated with the Qatar Fund and Glencore, was given the right to dispose of the company's stake, and another of their structures is QHG Trading LLP - a contract for the supply of up to 55 million tons of oil
QHG Shares Pte. Ltd, registered in Singapore, received the right to dispose of 19.5% of Rosneft. This is evidenced by the materials of the Russian company, published on the portal of the Center for Disclosure of Corporate Information.
The basis by virtue of which the company obtained the right to dispose of securities, came on December 15. The extract from the Singapore corporate register that RBC had at the disposal indicated that QHG Shares was registered in Singapore on December 8, 2016, the company's share capital is broken up into 201 ordinary shares and is € 10.243 billion, and it is fully paid. The owner of the Singapore QHG Shares is QHG Investment LLP, established by Glencore and QIA, the document says.
At other times, it is claimed that the “ultimate ownership” belongs soley to Glencore and QIA. SO, What’s the Problem!?
Reuters reported in January that certain details of the deal
could not be determined from public records, including the
source of 2.2 billion euros in funding and the beneficial owners
of a Cayman Islands company that is part of the consortium's
ownership structure. Rosneft says the deal was transparent and
Glencore and Qatar are the only owners of the stake.
Or more simply, that only “QHG Shares” has the right to “dispose of” those 201 pie-slices of Rosneft ...
oilcapital.ru
[...]
Singapore-based QHG Shares, established by the Qatar sovereign fund and commodity trader Glencore, became the owner of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft, the Russian company said.
The basis by virtue of which QHG Shares acquires the right to dispose of shares, entered into force on December 15, 2016.
Seems like this surprise sell-off of the State-owned Oil company last December, has been bigger news in Russia, that it has been in the U.S. Here’s a link to a Russian economic news feed (following Glencore) with a translate option.
—
Here’s the link to the Glencore public website.
Here’s the link to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) website. And their New York arm.
—
Interesting side-note: the one of major sticking points in Wilbur Ross’ confirmation hearing, was about one major investment, that he refused to sell …
It just so happens that the company Diamond S Shipping, does major business with Glencore.
Go Figure. It’s a small world afterall. And getting smaller all the time.
— — — — —
One last interesting “side-note”
"I had the opportunity to meet with some of the top managers of the company Rosneft. The recent Rosneft deal, in which the Qatar Fund and Glencore could take part is unfortunately a good example of how American private companies are limited to a great degree due to the influence of sanctions.
Beware of those “smoke-filled” rooms Carter … they could be hazardous to your long-term health.