The court danced for Rosneft

In 2014, Russian state news agencies spoke about the solemn event: “Rosneft <...> paid 12 euros for each action of Pirelli, <...> the agreement on the conclusion of this transaction was signed as part of the PMEF-2014 (St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.-Ed.) In the presence of President Vladimir Putin,” TASS said . “Italy approved the acquisition of Rosneft in Pirelli,” said RIA Novosti.

Seven years have passed. And Rosneft sued “important stories”, demanding to remove and refute this information. We referred to reports of news agencies in our investigation “Dancer for Rosneft”. Who received a share purchased for an oil company in the Italian tire giant Pirelli and what is choreography. ” During the investigation, we figured out who registered the companies for the transaction and who eventually got the Pirelli shares. Rosneft did not answer the request of “important stories” sent in advance, and after the publication she turned to the Moscow Arbitration Court.

Representatives of Rosneft said in court: the state company did not buy a share in Pirelli, and also did not control the shares of the Italian tire giant through any representatives. On July 14, the judge of the Moscow Arbitration Court Maxim Vedernikov ordered “important stories” to publish a refutation and delete information.

We want readers to evaluate whether such a court decision is true, so we publish messages from Russian news agencies that we referred to in our publication. As well as the information materials of Rosneft itself and Pirelli reports that we provided to the court.

Posts of news agencies

“In the publication, statements that are not component by reality are made, aimed at creating a distorted impression from readers that the plaintiff allegedly acquired a large Pirelli stake, and even in the presence of the President of the Russian Federation, and in the future lost it,” Rosneft said in his claim for “important stories”.

In fact, numerous statements about the participation of Rosneft in the transaction back in 2014 made news agencies with reference to the oil state -owned company itself. “Rosneft closed the acquisition of 50 % in the capital of Camfin SPA, a holding company owning 26.19 % of Pirelli & CSPA President Rosneft Igor Sichin entered the Pirelli board of directors, the TASS State Information Agency said .

Later, TASS even published the position of the leadership of the Italian company regarding the transaction: “The presence of Rosneft in the joint -stock capital of Pirelli does not violate the conditions of Western sanctions. The head of the Italian company Marco Tronketti Verification, according to the results of the first half of 2014, said this during the telephone conference. ”

TASS State Agency conveys the words of the head of Pirallitass State RIA Novosti on the approval of the transaction in Italia "News"

According to the Law “On Mass Media”, the journalist and the editors are exempted from liability in the event of the distribution of information received from news agencies.

For seven years, Rosneft has not tried to challenge reports of news agencies on the purchase of Pirelli shares. Moreover, state -owned companies used some of these news in its own materials. For example, on the Rosneft website there is stilla brochure to the 2014 St. Petersburg Economic Forum. It provides an Interfax message on the day of signing the transaction with Pirelli, May 24, 2014: “President of NC Rosneft, Igor Sechin and Pirelli CEO Marco Tronetti, signed a package of documents for cooperation between the companies, the correspondent of Interfax reported from the signing ceremony. The signed documents are about the entry of the Rosneft NK into the joint -stock capital of Pirelli. "

The same “Interfax” in another message told about the details of the transaction: “Luxembourg company Long-term Investments Luxembourg, owned by Rosneft, closed the purchase of a 26.19 % of the shares of the Italian tire producer for 552.7 million euros. Pirelli, according to a joint press release from participants. ”

Long Term Investments Luxembourg has become a starting point for the investigation of “important stories”. We noticed that it was created only eight days before the transaction. It was registered by the Moscow company "Long -term investments", established in January 2014 by a dance teacher Aiya Belova.

Messages "Rosneft"

Rosneft itself in its press releases has repeatedly announced the purchase of a share in Pirelli.

“Rosneft’s Tax Code reached an agreement with the International Consortium as part of Unicredit, Inteza bank, Klesser Foundation on the purchase of a share of 50 % of the holder of the Pirellley shares,” Rosneft reported in March 2014.

Support those who sue with the state controlled by the state your help will allow us to continue to talk about not the most transparent transactions to support “important stories”

And just six days before the transaction, the oil company said : “Rosneft structures will be included in the Pyrelli joint -stock capital.”

Rosneft ordered a linguistic examination of its own messages for the court about the transaction with Pirelli. The state -owned company attracted for this well -known specialist - a doctor of philological sciences, vice -rector for science of the State Institute of Russian Language Mikhail Osadchy. He came to the conclusion that, based on the data presented to him, “one cannot draw an unambiguous conclusion that Rosneft has acquired Pirelli shares, since it was about future, and not about the events.

According to Osadchi, when Rosneft reported that “the agreement on acquiring <...> 50 % of the capital of a holding company owning 26.19 shares of Pirelli” was signed-it was not said that Rosneft itself bought a share, because the press release also said that “Rosneft” attracted strategic investments pension funds and financial institutions on the principles of project financing. "

From the pamphlets of Rosneft to the Petersburg Economic Forum of 2014 Rosneft Rosneft press release Rosneft

Unfortunately, representatives of the oil state -owned company did not provide Professor Osadchech with all information materials about this transaction. For example, Professor Osadchiy could not give a linguistic assessment of the Rosneftbrochure to the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, where Interfax is given that the President of Rosneft and Pirelli General Director signed a package of documents on cooperation, and “in signed documents are about the entry of NK Rosneft in Joint -stock capital Pirelli. "

Rosneft at that time not only did not dispute this statement as inaccurate, but even used it in its information material.

Pirelli reports

In their investigation, “Important Stories” not only referred to the messages of Russian news agencies, but also referred them into Pirelli's reports. These official documents fully confirm our position.

For example, a protocol about the intent was published on the Pirelli website, in which the “strategic investor” of the purchase of a share in Pirelli was called Rosneft. The protocol indicates the future share of Rosneft in Pirelli capital - 13.1 %.

Pirelli

Later, the Luxembourg company Long Term Invests Luxembourg, created eight days before the transaction, became a “strategic investor” in the Pirelli website . The contract says that it was her after the implementation of the protocol about the intent, Rosneft appointed an investor to the holding company that held the Pirelli shares.

And most importantly: in the basic prospectus of the emission of securities Pirelli of July 2, 2014, it is said : Long Term Investments Luxembourg, which bought a share in Pirelli, is the company “controlled by Rosneft”.

Pirelli

Pirelli reports details : “On May 24, 2014, a transaction was completed, as a result of which Long Term Investments Luxembourg SA, a company controlled by the Pension Fund“ Neftegarant ” - acquires the rights by 50 % of Camfin (company that owns 26.19 % of the shares in the shares in Pirelli) ".

Rosneft was the founder of Neftegarant until its liquidation in 2019. (This was reported in the decision of the Arbitration Court of the city of Moscow dated January 18, 2019, case No. A40-312512/18-183-237). The chairman of the NPF Neftegarant NPF was the financial director of Rosneft Petr Lazarev, the Council of the Fund also included (now the former) Vice President of Rosneft Yuri Kalinin.

Who got the share

Documents on the Pirelli website show that Rosneft initially negotiated the purchase of a share in Pirelli, appeared as a strategic investor in the protocol about intentions, and then appointed the Luxembourg Company, which she “controlled” the investor. After the transaction was completed, the investor nominated to the board of directors of Pirelli the top managers of Rosneft.

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In our opinion, the little -known Luxembourg structure, created eight days before the transaction, could not independently buy a share in Pirelli for half a billion euros. In such transactions, such little -known firms are always worth the big players. For seven years, Russian state news agencies, all the business media of the world and Pirelli itself were sure that Rosneft was this player. Yes, and Rosneft itself did not dispute this and even quoted reports about the deal in its materials.

But in 2021, representatives of the state -owned company declared in court the “important stories” that our investigation creates a “distorted impression” from the readers that Rosneft acquired a share in Pirelli, and then lost it.

However, in 2017, in her communique, Pirelli reported that the Luxembourg company Long Term Investments Luxembourg was no longer controlled by Rosneft or its pension fund, but belonged through the Russian company Cyprus WhPa LTD, the only owner of which was Sergei Sirikov at that time. He is the owner of the Region group managing Rosneft's pension money.

Pirelli

In the process of preparing the investigation, we sent him and to the Rosneft press service detailed issues with a request to comment on the situation. Unfortunately, neither Rosneft nor Sudarikov answered why a share in Pirelli was bought by the structure of the “controlled Rosneft” and its pension fund, and as a result, this share was at Sudarikov and how much he earned on this.

Representatives of Rosneft in court stated that Rosneft did not control the Luxembourg company Long Term Investments Luxembourg, and that Pirelli documents are contradictory and are not true, as well as messages of Russian state news agencies.

Now, “important stories” will have to refute and delete the information received from TASS, RIA Novosti, as well as the leading business media in the world and Pirelli reports, which the judge of the Moscow Arbitration Court Maxim Vedernikov recognized that it was not true. We believe that such a court decision is not based on law and common sense.