Page 12 - bne_Magazine_February_2019

12 I Companies & Markets bne February 2019
“Telia is streamlining its operations to focus on growing its core Nordic business”
Lars Nyberg, a former CEO of Telia, went on trial in September over allegations that $350mn was paid to Karimova, in return for “protection” from the Uzbek government and access to Uzbekistan’s 3G and 4G telecoms market.
The deal to sell the Ucell stake was expected to result in a gain of about $44mn before reclassification of accumulated foreign exchange losses to net income from discontinued operations, Telia said. Telia’s now sold Uzbek subsidiary started operating in Uzbekistan under the brand of Coscom in 1996 and was later renamed as Ucell.
ING stung by the probe
Also in September last year, Dutch bank ING agreed to
pay fines and other payments worth €775mn for “serious shortcomings” in executing policies that would prevent financial crime. While Dutch investigators found no evidence of ING helping its customers in potential criminal activities, prosecutors detailed several examples where ING accounts were used in committing crimes. They included the transfer of “bribes worth millions of dollars [by VimpelCom] via its bank accounts with ING to a company owned by the daughter of a former Uzbek president".
The Amsterdam-based bank said it regretted mistakes that allowed customers to use their accounts for money laundering and corrupt practices between 2010 and 2016. It was fined €675mn and agreed to pay another €100mn as a disgorgement payment.
US ready to cancel sanctions on Russian Rusal aluminum major
bne IntelliNews
Aluminium major Rusal could see sanctions lifted within 30 days after a deal was made with Russian billionaire and Kremlin insider Oleg Deripaska to significantly reduce his stake in the company, the US Treasury Department (USTD) said in a statement on December 19.
Deripaska and his businesses were sanctioned on April 6 along with fellow oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in the most serious Rus- sian sanctions to date. Although Rusal has been thrown lifeline after lifeline to avoid shocks in the global aluminium supply chains, the lifting of the sanctions comes as a surprise as tough- ening of the US sanctions was expected post mid-term elections.
While Deripaska will remain sanctioned, restrictions on his metals and energy holding En+, and its subsidiaries Rusal
and EuroSibEnergo, will be removed in 30 days unless the US Congress blocks the action. The shares of Rusal soared by 27% in Hong Kong on the announcement on December 20 opening.
"These companies have committed to significantly diminish Deripaska’s ownership and sever his control," USDT secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement. "The companies
will be subject to ongoing compliance and will face severe consequences if they fail to comply."
According to the statement, the conditions include Deripaska
www.bne.eu
Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska was targeted with US sanctions in April
cutting his direct and indirect share ownership to below 50% in all three companies and reshuffling the boards of En+
and Rusal. His stake in En+ has to be cut from about 70% to 44.95%. Half of En+ new board will have to be comprised of US or UK nationals, while Rusal’s current board chairman will have to go. Deripaska would not be allowed to get any cash compensation for the shares or future dividends.
Notably, state-controlled VTB Bank or another entity approved by the USTD will be able to take ownership of a block of share in En+. The bank is headed by sanctioned Andrey Kostin, a staunch Vladimir Putin loyalist, and has been involved in many major Kremlin-led deals.
The Kremlin said that both Deripaska and Kostin have attended the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos that took place in January 2019, a reversal from a previous decision to bar the sanctioned Russian from the event.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, joined by Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top- ranking Democrats respectively on the Banking and Foreign Relations committees, said the decision "raises key questions that the administration will need to answer about whether the structural and governance changes made by these companies are sufficient to ensure that Deripaska is no longer in the