MOSCOW (Realist English). The founder of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, said that he had decided to resign from the post of president of the company ahead of schedule due to the sanctions imposed on him in order not to hinder the development of the company. The billionaire told this to the Russia-24 TV channel.
“Everyone knows that English and Australian sanctions have been imposed on me, so this hinders the development of the company today. The sanctions do not concern Lukoil, but concern me personally, so I decided to distance myself from the company’s activities. Today I am not a member of the management board, nor the president of the company, nor a member of the board of directors. Therefore, the company is not connected with me today in any way. And I don’t have a controlling stake, so the company can safely develop.” the founder of Lukoil explained his decision.
On April 21, the Board of Directors of the oil company decided to appoint Vadim Vorobyov, the First Executive Vice President of the company, as the interim sole executive body – the President of PJSC Lukoil until the formation of a new sole executive body by an extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders. The meeting is scheduled for May 30 of this year in the form of absentee voting.
Apart from sanctions, what other reasons are behind Alekperov’s decision? The director of the Institute of Regional Problems Dmitry Zhuravlev answered the question of Realist Information Agency:
“Businessman Vagit Alekperov has left the board of directors of Lukoil and the post of head of the company. This seems completely unexpected. But if you think about it, there is nothing unexpected in this. Alekperov came under personal sanctions and his staying at the head of the company gave a reason to strike at Lukoil. And Alekperov, as the founding father of the company, defended his creation. Actually, it would be possible to put an end to this, but there is always a “but”.
We surely understand that if the opportunity to impose sanctions on one of Russia’s largest oil companies appears, then our American “friends” will do it anyway, regardless of whether Alekperov will be at the head or not. Therefore, the threat of sanctions is not a reason for resignation, but only a pretext for leaving the post of head of the company right now: a kind of a trigger of the situation.
And the reason seems to be much deeper. We remind you that as of March 31 of this year, the entrepreneur owned and managed of 3.12% of the shares. For another 5.43%, he had a “beneficial economic interest”, including through family trusts or mutual investment funds. And at one time he owned 30% of the shares. And the decline in the share did not happen today or even yesterday.
It seems that Alekperov has been preparing his retirement from active work in the company for a long time. There are two reasons for this.
The Strategic one. Alekperov withdraws his capital from the “stormy sea” of the oil industry “to the quiet harbor” of finance. But this version does not seem to be fully confirmed. That is, he clearly redistributed the capital. But it definitely didn’t work out for a quiet harbor. Otherwise, there could not have been such a reduction in his fortune. According to Forbes, the businessman ranks 10th in the ranking of the richest Russia’s entrepreneurs. The magazine estimated his fortune at $10.5 billion. At the same time, compared to last year’s rating, the businessman lost $ 14.4 billion.
The Family. According to media reports, Alekperov’s son Yusuf does not work in the “family company”. Yusuf Alekperov left Lukoil in 2018 and is engaged in his own business — the production of Plan B energy drink. For incomplete 2018, the net profit of Plan B LLC amounted to almost 3 million rubles. In September 2019, he registered Digital Technologies LLC, which deals with advertising. Yusuf, as Alekperov himself said, will never run an oil company. Under these conditions, Alekperov has no one to keep his position in Lukoil for.
Thus, the sanctions spurred the process that was already going on.”
