Battle of the oligarchs
Controversial Ukrainian closing in on bid for UK oil and gas firm
A WELL- CONNECTED oligarch who counts Tony Blair and Sir Elton John as friends has quietly snapped up a quarter of a Londonlisted oil firm he tried to buy seven years ago.
Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuki sunderstood to be behind an investment vehicle called Kelda that has bought 24 percent of Regal Petroleum, a gas firm with assets in Ukraine that is listed on London’s AIM market.
Pinchuk was involved in a takeover battle for Regal in 2011, but lost out to a company called Energees, controlled by Ukrainian businessmen Vadim Novinsky and Andrei Klyamko. They still control 52 per cent of Regal.
News that Pinchuk is behind Kelda will lead to speculation he is preparing for a second Londonbased battle for control.
The 57-year-old faced scrutiny several years ago after it emerged he secretly built a stake before the last bid through investment vehicles that were not in his name.
The stock market’s takeover rules state that bidders must disclose any stakes they already hold in a takeover target.
Kelda has bought the 24 per cent stake from a subsidiary of Alfa Group, controlled by yet another oligarch, Mikhail Fridman. Alfa has sold its entire stake in Regal.
Regal said it could not confirm whether Pinchuk was the mystery shareholder behind Kelda, but said it was investigating.
Pinchuk made his fortune from steel pipes firm Interpipe, but he is better known for his ties to the rich and famous. He has given more than $1 million to the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and – having struck up a friendship with former US President Bill Clinton – has given between $10 million and $25 million to the Clinton Foundation.
Pinchuk has been named in the controversy over Russian interfer- ence in the 2016 US election. The New York Times reported in April that a $150,000 donation made in September 2015 from Pinchuk to the Donald J. Trump Foundation was being probed by investigators. It was the largest donation to the foundation in 2015 by anyone besides Trump himself.
It was made in exchange for a 20minute appearance by Trump via video link to a conference in Kiev.
Pinchuk rubs shoulders with celebrities such as Sir Elton John and Damien Hirst.
An avid art collector, he paid £10.3 million for Hirst’s The Golden Calf in 2008.
Wife Elena is the daughter of former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma. They once owned the world’s most expensive house after paying £80 million for a ten-bedroom home in Kensington, West London.
Last week, the MoS revealed that Ukrainian MP and businessman Vitaliy Khomutynnik had bought nearly 20 per cent of JKX Oil & Gas, a London-listed oil firm which also has operations in Ukraine.
Pinchuk has clashed with JKX’s top shareholders, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov.
He sued the pair in a $2 billion High Court battle over a mining deal that turned sour.
They settled in 2016 for a sum thought to be more than $1 billion.
In 2011, Regal was in talks with t wo companies controlled by Pinchuk including Geo- Alliance Oil- Gas, which has assets near Regal’s in Ukraine.
Regal, which has a value of £120 million on AIM, has a colourful history of its own.
Its founder Frank Timis was twice convicted for possession of heroin before he joined the firm.
Once worth more than £500 million, Regal’s share price plunged 86 per cent in a single day in 2005 after wells it had claimed were set to be big money-spinners turned out to be dry.
It led to a record £600,000 fine in 2009 as the regulator accused Regal of misleading investors.