Not a word about Abramovich

Six months ago, the name of the head of the KomiTEK company, Grigory Berezkin, was known only to specialists. He avoided contact with the press, especially after newspapers wrote about his acquaintance with Roman Abramovich. However, Berezkin could not avoid appearing to the public when finalizing the public transaction for the sale of KomiTEK to LUKOIL. Grigory Berezkin gave an exclusive interview to Vlast correspondents Natalya Kutusheva and Alexander Malyutin.

Grigory Berezkin still does not say anything about his contacts with Roman Abramovich, citing business ethics. As far as we have been able to find out, they met five or six years ago in the Komi Republic, when they were engaged in a relatively small oil trading business. Subsequently, as is known, Abramovich became the main shareholder of the large oil company Sibneft, and Berezkin founded the company Evroseverneft, engaged in management consulting.
In 1996, Berezkin’s team worked directly for Sibneft, helping to set up new sales schemes. Subsequently, the contact weakened: Berezkin focused on work at KomiTEK, having received an order from the shareholders to prepare the company for sale.

On October 30, 1997, by decision of the meeting of KomiTEK shareholders, external management was introduced into the company by the Euroseverneft company in order to financially improve KomiTEK and increase its market value. Last week, the meeting of KomiTEK shareholders decided to terminate the agreement with Euroseverneft due to the completion of the program and the end of negotiations between the shareholders of KomiTEK and LUKOIL. During these negotiations, it was decided that the former shareholders of KomiTEK would become owners of more than 5% of the shares of NK LUKOIL. The shares will be exchanged at the rate of one ordinary share of LUKOIL for 4.2 ordinary shares of OJSC KomiTEK. If KomiTEK shareholders do not have a multiple of the number of shares to exchange, they will be asked to join a pool or receive the difference in cash.

—Are you interested in politics?
- In general, no. To lobby your own or someone else’s interests, it is not necessary to be professionally involved in politics.
— Do you want to say that you managed to get an order from KomiTEK shareholders without resorting to big politics? Why did the owners of KomiTEK entrust the treatment of their company to your team?
- There would be no happiness, but misfortune would help. At the end of 1996, when privatization ended, Komineft (a subsidiary of KomiTEK - Kommersant) was summoned to the bankruptcy commission. As it turned out, for the sixth time. As a representative of the interests of KomiTEK in Moscow, I notified the new shareholders of the company about this. The conversation was very short. Peter Karpov, who headed the commission, noting that changes in the company are only happening for the worse, said that if its owners do not achieve anything in four months, bankruptcy proceedings will be initiated.
Naturally, the foreign companies that bought shares in KomiTEK did not know the real state of affairs, the team, or local specifics. They began to look for people who could help them. Historically, having worked with KomiTEK for several years, we knew their internal problems better than others and had a good reputation among foreign investors.
— Why now, when the oil market is on the rise and the company is in good condition, are shareholders selling shares?
— Firstly, because the offer that LUKOIL made is quite attractive. After all, LUKOIL is buying not only a business, but also a development prospect, and therefore pays more than for a regional company producing three million tons of oil per year. Secondly, the shareholders of KomiTEK are mainly portfolio investors, whose main task is to increase the value of the assets they have purchased.
— Were there other offers to purchase?
— Many large Western investment and oil companies showed interest in KomiTEK. But after the crisis they took a wait-and-see attitude. Given the political situation in the country, most likely they will wait until the presidential elections. LUKOIL was in a hurry to get ahead of foreign investors who could come to Russia in a more stable environment. After all, the Timan-Pechora province is the only promising field in the European part of Russia, located close to both the sea and the oil pipeline.
— Shouldn’t KomiTEK shareholders have waited?
— The majority of the company’s shareholders are foreigners. For most of them, LUKOIL shares are an obvious asset improvement. In addition, the deal between KomiTEK shareholders and LUKOIL is logical. In fact, the mistake made during privatization was corrected, when Arkhangelskgeologodobycha was privatized separately from Komineft and geology was separated from production.
— Are the interests of the region taken into account in this deal? After all, the head of the Komi Republic, Yuri Spiridonov, is a difficult person...
— The interests of the region are taken into account first. In addition, local authorities have tools for control on their territory. These are taxes, licenses, fines, etc. And we generally have very good business relations with the Governor of Komi, Yuri Spiridonov. At some point, he even suggested that we work on raising money for other regional projects. We started small, placing a Russian bond issue for the republic for six months. Then they helped the region get a good credit rating - the same as that of the federation. Then they attracted a foreign loan of $55 million. And after August 17, they helped restructure the loans.
Local authorities also met us halfway. The local legislative assembly, for example, halved the property tax.
— What prompts you, as a manager, to sell KomiTEK, since the price of oil today is incredibly high?
— The fact is that we do not actually make money from the sale of oil. This is not our business. Our profit appears only when we solve the problem set by shareholders. In this situation, it was an increase in the value of shareholders' assets. After this transaction - the conversion of KomiTEK shares into LUKOIL shares - the value of their assets increased. And during the implementation of the project, the services of the management company are not painful for the customer. Thus, KomiTEK financed only the current activities of Euroseverneft.
— What did you get from this deal?
— We, as a rule, agree with customers that we get the same thing that they get. In this case, like the shareholders of KomiTEK, we will receive shares of LUKOIL.
— Do you think that management companies in Russia have a great future?
- Yes. There are a huge number of specific problems that investors face in Russia; they don't know how to solve them. They often lie in an area of what I would call legal uncertainty.
— Including criminal ones? If you were hired by shareholders who were not allowed into the property they purchased, would you take on such an offer? And could you solve the problem?
— Yes, this is also a crisis situation, although taken to the point of absurdity. Each situation requires an individual approach.
— Have you encountered such situations?
- Yes, there were such moments. And we managed to solve them. Although most often we encountered financial and economic problems.
— Do you consider the idea of creating a state oil company from Rosneft, Slavneft and ONAKO viable?
— An idea in itself can be neither bad nor good. It all depends on how it will be implemented, what team will come to manage this holding and what tasks the government will set for it. The same northern delivery or supply of fuel and lubricants to the army can be beneficial for both the holding and the state. All over the world, government consumers are a profitable and stable business.
— Do you have a desire to manage the state holding if it is finally created?
— If a competition is announced, we will most likely participate in it.

Magazine "Kommersant Power" No. 37 dated 09.21.1999, p. 25