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The industry likes to take risks – but everyone wants to avoid violating international sanctions. Especially retailers and banks.
Commodity trading involves large sums of money and many people involved. It is very complicated to ensure that no internationally applicable sanctions are violated, explains Patrick Eberhardt. The lawyer and partner at the Eversheds-Sutherland law firm in Geneva specializes in questions relating to sanctions.
Sellers – Dealers – Banks – Buyers
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In a commercial transaction – for example the sale and transport of a tanker load of crude oil – not only the seller and the buyer are involved. There are also the dealers who handle the business and the banks who pre-finance it. The seller wants the money for her oil immediately, but the buyer usually only pays after receipt – and months can pass in between. Because commodity traders conduct multiple transactions at the same time, they have credit lines running into the hundreds of billions, issued by various banks.
Both retailers and banks use its services. A breach of sanctions in the important trading center of Geneva would have national but also international consequences. “Because oil trading is carried out in dollars, there is a connection to the USA – and the US authorities would have the opportunity to intervene,” explains Eberhardt.
Sanctions are definitely avoided
Despite the high risks, tankers carrying Russian oil continue to evade Western sanctions. The dealers seem little known. Sanctions specialist Eberhardt does not assume that there are connections to the large raw materials companies.
“If a large trader were to commit such a breach in a single case, all of the group’s loans would become due immediately – a very big risk.” This means that if loans amounting to several billion dollars had to be repaid immediately, it could even bring global corporations to their knees.
China and India suspected
Eberhardt does not know who is behind the transactions with breached sanctions and who is financing them. The lawyer expresses caution. India and China are major buyers of Russian oil. And China in particular also has very liquid banks.
In addition, the transactions could also be carried out without banks and therefore without more precise controls: In this case, the Russian supplier would be paid directly by the recipient – and possibly not in dollars, but in Chinese yen or Indian rupees.
Seco and Finma are required
The raw materials companies and the banks that finance the legal transactions have large compliance departments. These are intended to ensure that companies comply with the law. And they employ lawyers like Patrick Eberhardt to avoid breaches of sanctions.
Enforcing the sanctions and punishing misconduct in the important raw materials trading center of Geneva is the task of the Swiss authorities: the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) and the Financial Market Supervisory Authority (Finma) are responsible.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has already been involved
Switzerland has tightened its pace since the Russian attack on Ukraine began at the end of February 2022, says the Geneva raw materials lawyer. Initially, the Seco was understaffed. «That has changed. Now we are taking action against suspected sanctions violations.”
This means that if there is suspicion, the authorities can request information in writing. But you are also authorized to search office premises. Individual cases have already been handed over to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
Switzerland and Geneva, as important trading centers for the raw materials industry, are likely to be the focus of investigations into sanctions against Russia for the time being. This means that the services of sanctions lawyer Patrick Eberhardt will also remain in demand.
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European countries that have allegedly given up Russian gas are actually getting it. Miller
– 2024-04-20 11:51:55
Several European countries, which allegedly gave up Russian gas, actually continue to receive it, Gazprom head Alexey Miller stated during an interview with the “Moscow.Kremlin.Putin” program.
“Supplies are also made through the gas hub of Austria to the countries of Southeast Europe,” said Miller.
“Swap transactions are quite common, and we know that Russian gas is supplied to many European countries, which have announced that they have refused to use Russian gas. Thus, according to the contracts, “Gazprom” supplies gas to Europe through the Austrian gas hub, from where it goes to other EU countries, as well as South-Eastern European countries,” said the head of “Gazprom”.
According to Alexey Miller, Russian gas is available on the European market in a rather large volume.
“I emphasize once again that there are states that declare that there is no Russian gas on the market of their countries, but this is not the case,” he added.
Premier Energy Plans IPO to Raise 100 Million Euros in Renewable Energy Investment
Domestic financier Jiří Šmejc wants to continue investing heavily in renewable energy. His company Premier Energy, which is one of the largest gas and electricity distributors in Romania and Moldova, announced a plan to sell part of its shares on the stock exchange.
As part of the initial public offering (IPO), Premier Energy wants to raise around 100 million euros (25 billion crowns) by raising capital, while at the same time the main shareholder of the group, the company Czech Emma Capital, plans to sell. shares worth 25 million euros (630 million crowns). The total value of the IPO will therefore exceed 125 million euros.
The company will start offering shares to investors as soon as the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) approves the prospectus for the public share offering. This is the first IPO on the Bucharest Stock Exchange after the Romanian state electricity producer Hidroelectrica entered the stock exchange last year worth two billion euros.
“As the largest renewable energy operator and integrator of solar and wind farms in Romania and Moldova, Premier Energy Group is well positioned to benefit from the expected growth in renewables in the region and build on our recent transformational acquisition of CEZ Vanzare and our acquisition. history, said Chief José Garza in an official statement.
Premier Energy intends to use the funds raised in the IPO to fund future growth, particularly in the renewable energy generation sector.
Premier Energy owns or manages over 1,000 megawatts of renewable electricity under construction in Romania and Moldova and is one of the fastest growing renewable electricity suppliers in both countries. For example, he recently completed the largest solar park in Moldova.
The group is the third largest distributor and supplier of natural gas in Romania with more than 150,000 consumption points. It is also the largest distributor and largest supplier of electricity in Moldova, with nearly one million consumption points and more than 840,000 customers, supplying approximately 70 percent of the Moldovan population.
Following the recent acquisition of CEZ Vanzare in Romania, Premier Energy Group serves approximately 2.4 million electricity and natural gas customers in Romania and Moldova.
In 2023, Premier Energy achieved consolidated sales of 912 million euros (23 billion crowns), net profit of 78.8 million euros (two billion crowns) and adjusted total operating EBITDA of 127.7 million euros (3.2 billion crowns).
After entering the stock exchange, Šmejc’s Emma Capital will remain the main shareholder of Premier Energy, which started operating in Romania ten years ago. Emma Capital is an investment fund founded by Czech entrepreneur Jiří Šmejc. Apart from Šmejc, a small part of the group’s shares belong to the managers. Jiří Šmejc is also the CEO of the PPF Group, which manages assets of more than 40 billion euros.
Citigroup and UniCredit Bank are responsible for the main share subscription, as well as the investment company WOOD & Company.
2024-04-20 12:10:00
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Premier Energy Plans IPO to Raise 100 Million Euros in Renewable Energy Investment