The depreciation of the ruble against the dollar played into the hands of the shareholders of Surgut. “Due to the significant effect of the revaluation of foreign exchange assets, the net profit of Surgutneftegaz increased by almost 3.5 times and amounted to 891.7 billion rubles,” Bogdanov said. As a result, dividends on preferred shares that are directly linked to net profit, also increased by almost 3.5 times compared to last year, to 8.21 rubles. per share (for ordinary shares, the growth was only 8% - up to 65 kopecks). In total, the Board of Directors recommended that shareholders allocate more than 86 billion rubles for dividends. This recommendation, as well as other technical issues (approval of the annual report, re-election of the board of directors, etc.), was approved by the shareholders of Surgut almost unanimously.

It was as if they had only come to the meeting to make sure they were paid dividends. During the meeting, employees-shareholders did not ask questions about the company's activities, and during the break they began to disperse without waiting for the results of the meeting. “I have already voted on all issues, I realized that the dividends will be paid on July 16th. Can I go home already?” a female minority shareholder of Surgut with experience asked a respectable man in a suit, mistaking him for an employee of Surgutneftegaz. He graciously allowed her to leave. Another holder of the papers of the oil company asked Bogdanov for a ticket to the sea, he instructed the personnel director to resolve the issue.

Bogdanov promised to launch in the third quarter one of the largest new fields named after. V. I. Shpilman in Western Siberia, the key production region of Surgut (it accounts for 87% of Surgut's production). In the past year and the first half of 2015, the infrastructure works were carried out on it (a road, pipelines and a booster pumping station were under construction). After reaching the design capacity, this field will provide production of 2.5-3 million tons of oil per year, according to the annual report of Surgut. The head of the company specified that by the end of the year, production at the Shpilman field is expected to be at the level of 50,000 tons.

Four much more mature fields in Western Siberia - Vostochno-Elovoe, Yukyavinskoye, Rodnikovoe and Suryeganskoye - Surgutneftegaz wants to offer the government to conduct pilot tax zones on financial results(NFR), said Bogdanov, answering a question from RBC. The idea of ​​such an experiment was recently supported by Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

First results tax maneuver, operating in the industry since the beginning of 2015, the top manager did not comment. “[Now] it’s hard to say, because you see how volatile [the market] is and what’s happening with [oil] prices. [Summing up now], we will only raise foam, ”concluded Bogdanov and disappeared behind the powerful backs of his two guards.​

The ownership structure of the third largest oil company in Russia, Surgutneftegaz, is complex and non-transparent. In 2007, Vedomosti uncovered a network of 23 firms, non-profit partnerships and funds linked to Surgutneftegaz, either founded by it or run by its managers, including its CEO Vladimir Bogdanov. Are common financial investments of these organizations at the end of 2005 reached almost 1 trillion rubles, and the cost of these investments changed in proportion to the capitalization of Surgutneftegaz (see inset). The experts concluded that these structures may own 72% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz. Now the size of financial investments is not disclosed by all these structures; for those who do this, in 2012 it amounted to 568.717 billion rubles.

Until recently, the founders of most NPs were located within Russia. But about two years ago, the situation began to change: the founders of two non-profit partnerships, which allegedly have 9.26% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz on their balance sheets, NP Ruver and NP Nordik, are now associated with Cypriot companies. Namely, with seven firms: Ntarino Investments, Corouna Investments, Cebina Trading, Poleria Trading, Ourako Trading, Mazouna Holdings and Makola Holdings. They form a ring: the first firm owns 100% of the second, the second - the third, etc., and the last - the first (in the Russian ring that Vedomosti discovered in 2007, each of the firms owns each; see the diagram on page . 13).

The Cypriot ring appeared among the possible owners of Surgutneftegaz shares in this way. In March 2011, Makola received 4.76% in Toldo LLC, which owns 4.76% in Sillades LLC, the founder of NP Ruver, established in 2012.

The long-term investment of this partnership for last year exceeded 46 billion rubles. At the same time, the Cypriot Cebina received 4.76% of Polyusinvest LLC, which owns 4.76% in SPES-Vega LLC, the founder of NP Nordik. Its long-term investments exceeded 43 billion rubles last year.

New non-profit partnerships are the heirs of the old ones. NP Ruwer was formed as a result of the merger in 2011 of NP Banff and NP Ruwerpart, and NP Nordic was formed as a result of the merger of NP Diktenpart and Norquay. Except for these changes, the network of organizations and their Russian parent companies associated with Surgutneftegaz continues to exist in much the same form as in 2007.

Some NPs that may have shares in the company on their balance sheet indicated the telephone number of the Surgutneftegaz methodology department during registration. In other partnerships, such as NP Firenz and NP Ekkon, the directors are still employees of NPF Surgutneftegaz - the deputy director of the fund Alexei Nazarov and the head of the legal department Valery Efimov. Surgutneftegaz still does not disclose information about its owners. “The number of shareholders of OAO Surgutneftegaz is over 34,000. We do not know the owners of the shareholders of OAO Surgutneftegaz,” is all that a company representative told Vedomosti.

Why would a company need a Cypriot ring? “In the absence of detailed information, it is difficult to judge the content of the operations carried out through the Cyprus ring. It can be assumed that the systemic symmetrical distribution of stakes in several affiliated companies indicates the emergence of a new minority shareholder in Surgutneftegaz with a share of less than 1%, suggests Elena Starovoitova, general director of the audit firm Starovoitova and Partners. “The use of Cypriot companies is a fairly common scheme for optimizing both financial flows and taxation.”

There are no bans on cross-ownership in the European Union, but such a scheme is considered opaque, as it allows all power to be concentrated in the hands of managers and deprives shareholders of the opportunity to influence their decisions, says Grigory Chernyshov, partner at White & Case law firm. "A company that is traded on the stock exchange and cares about its investment attractiveness, as a rule, does not use such schemes," he adds.

The new minority shareholder could be Gennady Timchenko, an oil trader and longtime acquaintance of the Russian President. In mid-2012, he himself admitted to Vedomosti that he had shares in Surgutneftegaz: “a very small stake, a little more than zero,” bought “either for $10 million, or for $5 million.”

Timchenko's representative denies the participation of the oil trader in the Cypriot ring: “Gennady Timchenko owns a meager stake in Surgutneftegaz. According to our estimates, it is about 0.01%. Timchenko is not affiliated with any of the mentioned [Cyprus] companies.”

An employee of one of the law firms puts forward a different version: “The ring of firms in Cyprus can presumably serve to divert cash. Or, if the cache is not allocated there, it may be a technical channel for distribution cash flows between ring-related companies."

Oil concern "Surgutneftegaz" occupies the third place in the list of Russian oil producing companies, second only to the state "Rosneft" and "Lukoil". In 2013, the concern produced 61.6 million tons of oil, accounting for 11.7% of the total oil production in Russia. Net profit amounted to 279 billion rubles. (5.97 billion euros), which exceeded the figures for 2012 by 51%. In 2013, Surgutneftegaz commissioned several new fields, and in the first five months of this year, oil production increased by another 5%.

All these are good indicators, but not at all for this reason the concern is considered the only one of its kind, writes DieWelt. In fact, Surgutneftegaz is surrounded by mystery: no one knows who owns this "giant", and the company is in no hurry to reveal the secret - the real owners are hidden behind an absolutely impenetrable intertwining of various firms and societies.

Surgutneftegaz is a private company, its director and co-owner is Vladimir Bogdanov (No. 53 on Putin's clan scheme , business partner of Gangrene - Gennady Timchenko).

Even 12 years ago, Vladimir Bogdanov, who has been in charge of the concern since 1984, said that 70% of the shares of Surgutneftegaz belonged to "the management and its allies," but it is not known who "these allies" are.

Since 2002, Surgutneftegaz has not published financial statements in accordance with international standards. A report published in 2013 created even more fog. It turned out that all of a sudden, the company's shareholding was reduced from 40 percent to less than one percent, although the total number of shares did not change.

Putin's December statement, in which he noted that many of the concern's shares are allegedly in the hands of employees, did not bring clarity either. Experts consider this implausible.

According to political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky, it is Putin who is not interested in clarifying the situation with the oil giant. A few years ago, Belkovsky claimed that Putin controlled 37% of Surgutneftegaz. And the method of hiding the owners of the concern may well indicate that Belkovsky was right.

One of the confirmations of this is the close relationship of Surgutneftegaz with Gunvor belonging to Gangrene-Timchenko.

Quote:

The history of Surgutneftegaz shows its close ties to a group of businessmen who rose to prominence with Putin's ascent to the presidency in 2000. Under his guidance, they reached radiant heights - as well as their fortunes. Surgutneftegaz is unusually loyal to the business community associated with Gennady Timchenko(Klikukha "Gangrene", No. 49,56,68 on the scheme of Putin's clan, Putin's business partner in the St. Petersburg mayor's office, one of the 60 ruling thieves in law) .

From the moment of its privatization until 2003, Surgutneftegaz sold a significant part of its production through the Kinex trading company, owned by a group of businessmen, including Timchenko. In 2003, when Timchenko fell out with his Kinex partners, Surgutneftegaz canceled contracts with this trader and began trading through new company TimchenkoGunvor, which later became the third trading company in the world, helped by its connections with Surgutneftegaz and Rosneft.

In 2004 and 2005, William Browder, head of the Hermitage Capital hedge fund, sued Surgutneftegaz, demanding that Russian laws O valuable papers ah, which could result in the payment of part of the cash reserves (which were smaller at the time, but still significant) as dividends. In November 2005, the authorities canceled Browder's Russian visa, a week later Supreme Court The Russian Federation decided the case not in his favor. Browder said in an interview that conflicts with either Surgutneftegaz or Gazprom were the reason for his expulsion from Russia. And Surgut, according to him, is the most profitable and least expensive company in Russia.

In 1987, Adolf Smirnov, then deputy general director of Kirishinefteorgsintez (known as Kinef), Russia's largest oil refinery, Surgutneftegaz, was responsible for organizing sales of Kinef products. He created a structure called Kirishineftekhimexport, also known as Kinex. Malov was appointed Deputy CEO of Kinex. Kinex was responsible for the sales of Kinef's oil products and the purchase of necessary materials and equipment from abroad. In the late 1980s, Timchenko and later Katkov also joined Kinex. Around that time, Timchenko established a good relationship with Putin, who served as vice-mayor of St. Petersburg ... Putin's deputy at that time was Igor Sechin.

Soon Kinex was transformed into a separate company from Kinef and in 1991 moved to its own office. Kinex was managed by Smirnov, Timchenko, Katkov and Malov (hereinafter in judgment this group of people is called "Kinex partners".). During the period of perestroika, Kinex's activities brought great profits, especially after the company took up oil trading. Timchenko, based in Helsinki, worked for the Urals Group (one of the first private structures in the USSR to receive the right to export oil.). Then, acting in the interests of Kinex partners, he established control over the business of the Urals Group in Scandinavia.

In 1994, Kinex was transformed into Joint-Stock Company. In 1995-1996 "Kinef", Surgutneftegaz and Kinex were privatized. Kinef became part of Surgutneftegaz, however, Kinex retained its independence. In 1995, when a 51% stake in Kinex was privatized, the shares were transferred to the company's employees, including top managers Malov, Katkov, Timchenko and Smirnov. They increased their stakes in 1996 when the remaining 49% of Kinex shares were privatized. ... In 1998, shortly after financial crisis, the company was declared bankrupt and was replaced by a new company, which was named Kinex Group, whose sole shareholders were "Kinex partners".

In 1989, Nikitin and his father-in-law, a former ship captain, set up a consulting company in St. Petersburg. The business was very successful. In 1992, Nikitin earned his first million dollars. In 1992, Malov, in the interests of Kinex partners, offered Nikitin to develop a shipping business with Kinex. Nikitin was asked to create a company that would transport Kinex cargo. The profit from its activities was supposed to be divided in half between Nikitin and Kinex partners. Thus, Kirishi Shipping was established in 1992. In 1998 this business was taken over by Premium Nafta Products ltd (PNP) registered in the British Virgin Islands. Its office was located in St. Petersburg, the beneficiaries of the company were Nikitin, Malov, Katkov and Timchenko, who disposed of Smirnov's share as his own (Adolf Smirnov died in 2004). As Kinex prospered in the 1990s, Kirishi Shipping's business, and then PNP's, grew rapidly. By the end of the 1990s, the company handled about 1 million tons of cargo per month, chartered about 200 ships per year. Vessels were chartered on the spot market. However, around 2000, Nikitin came to the conclusion that the PNP needed to start leasing ships on a long-term basis. This possibility was discussed with Kinex partners.

189. Nikitin also became a partner in the Kinex railway business, which was later transferred to the offshore company Nikolas Invest Corporation. Profit from the business was shared between Nikitin, Kinex partners and Aadu Lukas, who had a stake in the project and partially controlled the oil transshipment of the Estonian company Pakterminal (Tallinn). In 1999, Kinex began trading in crude oil received from the company Surgutneftegaz(continuing operations with petroleum products from the Kirishi Refinery), deliveries went through Gunvor Energy, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Crude oil was delivered by pipeline to the plant in Kirishi, then transported by rail to ports on the Baltic Sea. Both PNB (a shipping company) and the railway company, in which Nikitin participated, were involved in this business. The beneficiaries of Gunvor Energy were Nikitin, Timchenko, Katkov, Malov, Lukas, as well as Thornbjorn Tornkvist, Timchenko's friend.

When the Gaidar government split the Russian oil industry into several companies in 1993, Surgutneftegaz with its deposits in Western Siberia went to an oil refinery in Kirishi in the Leningrad region. Soon Vladimir Bogdanov, his CEO since 1984. With the support of Bogdanov and another prominent Soviet oilman, Vagit Alekperov, 35-year-old Komsomol boss Sobyanin became mayor of the oil city of Kogalym in 1991. In 1993, he already became vice-governor of KhMAO, Russia's main oil province.

Former officials of the St. Petersburg mayor's office recall that at that time the Tambov criminal group, which controlled almost the entire St. Bogdanov sent Sobyanin to investigate. And it was then that he allegedly met Putin, and he helped him solve the problems of the plant with crime.

Sobyanin was generally a partner of Putin and his colleague Gennady Timchenko in the St. Petersburg oil business, says political scientist Sergei Belkovsky: Putin and Timchenko provided operational management of the plant, Sobyanin was responsible for deliveries. Timchenko's structures began to sell Kirishi products abroad. On this basis, Sobyanin learned to get along well with the oilmen. Both Sibneft and Surgutneftegaz, and Gazprom, and LUKOIL - he built relationships with everyone.

In a review of British newspapers:

"Secret No. 1 in the Russian oil industry"

Financial Times Moscow correspondent Charles Clover is trying to unravel the mystery of Siberian oil. He writes that Surgutneftegaz's confusing ownership structure makes it impossible to try to ascertain who actually owns the company.

The owners of the shares of the fourth largest oil company in Russia are more than 20 different organizations, companies, trusts, as well as the employees of Surgutneftegaz themselves. The problem is that it is very difficult to establish who owns these small companies located in or near Surgut itself, writes Clover.

Even Surgut Mayor Dmitry Popov admits that he does not know who owns the energy company that covers 70% of the city's budget. The company's ownership structure is like a "military secret" that the mayor believes should deter competitors who are considering buying it.

Surgutneftegaz has never provided information about who owns its shares, or why its structure resembles a chain reaction, where one company owns a second, a second a third, and so on, the FT notes.

The last time the CEO Vladimir Bogdanov answered a question about the owners of the company was back in 2008. He said at the time that he himself did not know who held the majority of the company's shares. He himself, Bogdanov explained, owns less than 2% of the shares, and therefore does not even have access to the register of shareholders.

Bogdanov himself, writes the correspondent of the Financial Times, is considered a very secretive and modest person. “Wherever he appears, this is already an event,” Surgut PR agent Vladimir Bedeh tells Charles Clover. “We don’t often see him in public.”

Liberal politician Vladimir Milov, who served as Russia's deputy energy minister until 2002, says the circular and intricate system was deliberately set up to hide well-known shareholder politicians, perhaps even from the highest echelons of power in the Kremlin.

“Who actually owns Surgutneftegaz is the No. 1 secret in the Russian oil industry" Milov said.

Surgutneftegaz has never provided information about who owns its shares, or why its structure resembles a chain reaction, where one company owns the second, the second the third, and so on Financial Times

Clover draws attention to some rather interesting investment projects company - she allocated money for the repair of the nuclear submarine base in Kamchatka, for which Vladimir Putin personally thanked her in a newspaper article.

"Just like many state-owned companies act like they are private, Surgutneftegaz is a private company that behaves like a state-owned company," says local journalist Taras Samborsky.

Surgutneftegaz, continues the Financial Times, was privatized in 1994-96. If other large energy companies - for example, Yukos or TNK - fell into the hands of bankers and oligarchs, then Surgutneftegaz remained one of the few that was managed by a "labor collective of workers", and Vladimir Bogdanov was already at the head of this "collective". But since that time, new owners have appeared on the horizon.

The FT writes that the company is closely linked to a circle of businessmen who began to flourish after Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000. Surgutneftegaz is unusually loyal to one man - Gennady Timchenko, who is considered one of Putin's close associates.

From the time of privatization until 2003, Surgutneftegaz sold oil through Kineks, one of whose owners was Timchenko. When Timchenko left his partners and opened a new company - Gunvor, Surgutneftegaz began to sell its products through it.

Gennady Timchenko himself denies having a large stake in Surgutneftegaz, and a spokesman for the businessman told the Financial Times that he owns less than 0.01% of the company's shares.

Arctic Sunrise activists are no longer pirates

The Guardian's Moscow correspondent writes that investigators have reclassified the criminal case against the crew of the Arctic Sunrise from piracy to hooliganism. Now 28 activists and two journalists who were detained in the Barents Sea a month ago face up to seven years in prison. The maximum term under the article "piracy" is 15 years, recalls Sean Walker.

I'm slowly dying in my cell Alexandra Harris, Greenpeace activist

On September 8, four Greenpeace activists tried to climb the Prirazlomnaya oil platform of the Gazprom Neft Shelf company to protest against oil production in the Arctic. A few hours later, Russian border guards seized the ship carrying the ecologists and took the ship to the port of Murmansk, where everyone on board was arrested.

"They are not pirates, but they are not hooligans either," Vladimir Chuprov, a spokesman for the Russian branch of Greenpeace, quoted the Guardian as saying.

Among the detainees - six Britons. The Guardian has read the text of a letter written by 27-year-old Alexandra Harris to her parents. "I am slowly dying in my cell," she writes.

Alexandra's father, Cliff Harris, commented on the reclassification of the allegations: "At first I was relieved that this is a less serious article, but it is still too early to draw any conclusions. Nevertheless, I believe that this is a step in the right direction."

It is rather difficult to explain why the "piracy" article was used against them, because it is clear to everyone that the activists did not want to seize Prirazlomnaya. Quite often, discussions at court hearings in Murmansk turned into absurdity when the parties tried to understand the question: "Can the Prirazlomnaya platform be called a vessel or not?" Indeed, without the presence of a vessel, the article on piracy becomes irrelevant.

According to Russian legislation, the concept of "hooliganism" is also quite extensive. The Guardian correspondent recalls that members of the punk band Pusy Riot were found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" and imprisoned for two years.

Greenpeace says it will not leave its activists in trouble and will fight to the last.

Obama should stop angering Merkel

The Guardian's front page features German Chancellor Angela Merkel talking on her cell phone and the headline: "Merkel Calling Obama - Are You Listening to My Phone Calls?"

But there is nothing more humiliating than when the head of an allied state calls you and demands to know why mobile phone are eavesdropping. It's times like this that the President of the United States should think about the fact that losing friends is not profitable for anyone The Guardian

On Wednesday evening, Merkel called the US President and demanded clarification from him in connection with the information that the US intelligence agencies tapped her mobile phone.

Merkel is the latest heroine of the diplomatic scandal that hit the White House after the publication of documents handed over by Edward Snowden. It follows from them that the special services are watching not only the enemies, but also, as it has now become known, their partners.

Guardian correspondent Julian Borger wonders what it means to be a US ally?

Many US allies have criticized the actions of US intelligence agencies, and each new batch of revelations spoils the US image on the world stage.

At the summit level, writes the Guardian, heads of state are trying to find solutions to problems in face-to-face conversations. Now that, under President Obama, the United States has acknowledged that it cannot act alone on the world stage, relationships between the leaders of the world's most powerful nations are becoming increasingly important.

A good example of this is the constant debate around the Syrian issue in the UN.

But there is nothing more humiliating than having an ally head of state call you and demand an explanation as to why his cell phone is being tapped, writes Borger. It is at such moments that the President of the United States should think about the fact that losing friends is not beneficial to anyone. He must also answer the question himself, who is your ally in the 21st century?

The heir to the throne didn't even utter a peep

He appeared smiling, left the hall smiling and smiled throughout the ceremony, as befits a true Daily Mail monarch.

Of course, the main topic of British newspapers is the baptism of Prince George, which took place on Wednesday at the Royal Chapel of St. James's Palace.

The Daily Mail tabloid writes that this was only the second public appearance of the son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who was born on July 22.

The heir to the throne coped with his task simply brilliantly, the publication claims. He observed royal etiquette in everything.

Prince George was wearing a lace baptismal gown, exactly the same as the robe of Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, christened in 1841.

A representative of the royal family, who was present at the ceremony, said that the future king "never even uttered a peep."

"He appeared smiling, left the hall smiling and smiled throughout the ceremony, as befits a real monarch," the source told the Daily Mail.

George's father, Prince William, admitted after the ceremony that this was the first time the baby had been so calm all day.

Review prepared by Andrey Kravets, bbcrussian.com

• 12:22
• 24.01.2007
• fuel market
• Information about the owners of Surgutneftegaz: more than 70% of the company's shares can be owned by 23 legal entities

A whole constellation of firms, partnerships and funds has been uncovered associated with Surgutneftegaz, either founded by it or managed by its managers, including Vladimir Bogdanov. The total financial investments of these organizations at the end of 2005 amounted to almost 1 trillion rubles, and the cost of these financial investments changed in proportion to the growth in the capitalization of Surgutneftegaz itself. Experts believe that these firms could have owned 72% of Surgutneftegaz's shares.

Main package

Information about the owners of Surgutneftegaz is a secret with seven seals. The last time the company disclosed this data was at the beginning of 2003, when Surgutneftegaz NPF owned 8.1% of the shares. Until mid-2002, among the shareholders of OJSC "Surgutneftegaz" was its "daughter" - NK "Surgutneftegaz" with a block of 36.7% of shares (42.1% of votes). But in 2003, NK was reorganized into Leasing Production LLC, which was no longer the owner of Surgut. Then the owners of a controlling stake in Surgut hid behind four nominal holders, and according to the latest report of the company as of September 30, 2006, 6.9% of its authorized capital was in the nominal holding of "ING Bank (Eurasia)", 0.3781% (0.4544% of voting shares) belonged to managers. Nevertheless, experts are confident that control over the company is concentrated in the hands of management, headed by CEO Vladimir Bogdanov.
The oilman and his team run not only Surgut. According to the United state register legal entities (USRLE), in April 2006 Bogdanov headed nine non-profit partnerships. All NPs were created in July 2002 by Surgutneftegaz's subsidiary LLC Invest-Zashchita and OAO Riel. The contribution of "Invest-Protection" in each NP amounted to 10,000 rubles, "Riel" -1,000 rubles. All NPs are registered in Surgut or the Surgut region and are engaged in financial intermediation. For all companies in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, one phone number is indicated. A call on him led to Surgutneftegaz. The responding employee suggested that the number in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities was indicated erroneously.
Non-commercial partnerships, which are managed by the general director of Surgutneftegaz, in 2003-2005. ransacked huge amounts of money. The balance sheets for these years, published in the "SPARK-Interfax" database with reference to the State Statistics Committee, show that at the beginning of 2003 all nine NPs were "blanks" with no profit. But in 2003 the situation changed. At the end of the year, NPs received a total of 263 billion rubles. net profit, and their long-term financial investments exceeded 271 billion rubles. In 2004, long-term financial investments of partnerships increased by another 18.9% (up to 323 billion rubles), in 2005 - by another 52% (491 billion rubles) (see table). For comparison: the long-term financial investments of Surgutneftegaz itself at the end of 2005 amounted to 114.3 billion rubles.

Long-term financial investments are a line that indicates investments in securities, shares, contributions to the authorized capital of other organizations or loans issued, says Elena Starovoitova, general director of the Starovoitova and Partners audit company. It is interesting that the financial investments of non-commercial partnerships, which were led by Bogdanov, grew at the same rate as the capitalization of Surgutneftegaz. As of December 30, 2004, its value increased by 20% compared to the data as of December 30, 2003, and as of December 30, 2005 - by another 54%. Starovoitova believes that coincidences in the growth of investments and capitalization may indicate that the shares of Surgutneftegaz appear on the balance sheet of NP. The difference in the change in proportions may be due to the fact that it is not known how many of each legal entity had ordinary, and how many preferred shares, whose quotes changed in different ways.
As indicated in the balance sheets, in 2004-2005. all nine IRs received substantial "income from participation in third parties"- a total of 2.12 billion rubles for 2004 and 6 billion rubles for 2005. These can be dividends on their blocks of shares (usually they are reflected in the balance sheets net of tax on dividends - 6% in 2004 and 9% in 2005), the interviewed accountants believe.If we assume that we are talking specifically about the shares of Surgutneftegaz, then, based on the amount of dividends and long-term financial investments, we can calculate how many shares could be on the balance sheet of all nine NP: In 2005, there would have been 36.73% of the total number of Surgut shares, including 41.8% of voting shares. LLC "Leasing production"
But that is not all. Bogdanov was president insurance fund "Social protection", whose financial investments at the end of 2005 amounted to 55.5 billion rubles. If we assume that in this case we are talking about the shares of Surgutneftegaz, this amount corresponds to a package of 4.12% of the authorized capital.

Convenient form of life

Non-profit partnerships led by Bogdanov are an extremely convenient form of existence for a legal entity. They do not share money and property with the founders. "According to the rules of accounting financial statements NPs are usually not consolidated into the accounts of their founders, since the founders do not have the right to dispose of the economic benefits earned by NPs," says Vadim Sorokin, partner at Deloitte.
The non-profit partnership itself, according to Anatoly Yushin, managing partner of AST Legal, can donate its property, and the founders of the NP have no rights to the property of the partnership. The property transferred to the NP is the property of the partnership, but its founders can leave the organization together with their contribution, but not with the entire partnership's income, continues Yan Dasgupta, partner at the Gridnev and Partners Bar Association. On the other hand, the director of an NP can dispose of the organization's assets almost without control - the law does not limit the size of transactions made by NP, says Yushin.
It is not clear how Bogdanov's NPs with a tiny authorized (11,000 rubles each) capital became owners of gigantic assets. In the absence of traffic information Money It is difficult for the NP to understand the source of financing for the acquisitions made, Starovoitov shrugged his shoulders. Based on the available information - lack of revenue, the authorized capital of each NP in 11,000 rubles. and the absence of obligations after the occurrence of financial investments - she made the assumption that the assets were received free of charge.

The Fellowship of the Ring

It was possible to find another chain of companies created by structures related to Surgut, which, possibly, leads to the owners of the shares of the oil company at the end of 2005. The scheme is based on seven companies, one of which (OOO IK Kias) back in 1997 was established by the structures of Surgutneftegaz. Each of these firms owns a stake in the six remaining companies according to the "ring" principle (for more details, see inset and diagram 2). Through a layer of 14 non-profit partnerships, the scheme leads to four LLCs - "Feering", " Krinum", "Kaladium" and "Vallota". All four were created on the same day - November 20, 2003, they are all located in different rural-type settlements of the Surgut district of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug. SPARK-Interfax has the same phone number. A call to this number led to Surgutneftegaz, and only the industry affiliation of the companies is different: one of them provides services for the installation, repair and maintenance of equipment, the other cleans and cleans industrial premises, the third is engaged in entertainment and sports activities, the fourth researches market conditions.
In the balance sheet of these four LLCs for 2003, they indicated long-term financial investments in the amount of 22.5 billion rubles. up to 30 billion rubles - in the amount of 106 billion rubles. In 2004, each LLC's long-term financial investments increased exactly by 18.4%, in 2005 - by 51.24%.
In turn, seven non-commercial partnerships from this chain, established by the ring companies, can be Surgut's shareholders. Their financial investments at the end of 2004 reached 104 billion rubles, in 2005 - 157.3 billion rubles. This corresponds to a stake in Surgutneftegaz of 11.64% of the authorized capital, or 14.19% of "votes" (at the end of 2005).
All investments that the chain has are in safe hands. After all, these companies and partnerships are led by the key managers of Surgut - Chief Accountant"Surgut" Mikhail Globa, the first deputy head of the financial department of the company Valentina Komarova, the head of the planning and economic department of the company Svetlana Kukotina, the head of the legal department Lyudmila Loginovskaya, as well as three deputies of the general director of "Surgut" - Valery Tatarchuk, Vladimir Ashikhmin and Vladislav Barankov.
By the way, Ashikhmin and Tatarchuk manage two more organizations, on the balance sheets of which large sums were recorded in 2005 - NP Egida and the Oplot fund. According to SPARK-Interfax, "Oplot" was established by NPF "Surgutneftegaz", "Egida" - by the same NPF, OAO and NK "Surgutneftegaz". The value of long-term financial investments of these companies at the end of 2005 corresponds to about 5.37% of the shares (6.48% of votes) of Surgutneftegaz.
Inquiries to Tatarchuk and Ashikhmin remained unanswered. Globa's receptionist reported that he was on vacation, while Komarova and Kukotina categorically refused to comment. It was not possible to contact Loginovskaya and Barankov. “We have nothing to do with Surgutneftegaz and are not aware of the financial investments created by our NP company,” assured Olga Andreeva, Deputy General Director of OAO Riel (one of the ring companies) (part-time, Deputy Chief Accountant of Invest -Protection").

Full control

In total there were 23 legal entities, which at the end of 2005 could have been the owners of 71.92% of the shares (84.4% of the voting shares) of Surgutneftegaz. True, there is a possibility that the balance sheet of the LLC and the IRs that founded them reflect investments in the same shares - LLCs reflect shares directly, and IRs reflect their investments in these LLCs. However, the interviewed auditors say that according to the rules of the Russian accounting"double counting" should not be.
If all these legal entities really were or remain owners, Surgutneftegaz is not required to disclose this information in its financial statements - due to the complex structure and the fact that each of the organizations accounted for less than 5% of the shares. And the oil company formally got rid of cross-ownership of its own shares, as it transferred the papers to non-profit organizations whose founders have no rights to their property, notes Anatoly Yushin.
If we proceed from the indicated amounts, then Vladimir Bogdanov, who headed partnerships and the Sotszashchita fund in 2006, controlled 47% of the voting shares of Surgut, and his managers - about 37%. But there are no traces of the oil trader Gennady Timchenko, whom some market participants consider the ultimate owner of approximately 25% of the shares of the oil company, in this scheme. However, since then the ownership structure of Surgut could have changed a lot - how much will become clear from the 2006 financial statements, concludes Anatoly Yushin.

RING "SURGUTNEFTEGAZ"

The chain was started in 1997. Then OJSC Surgutneftegaz, its main shareholder NK Surgutneftegaz, CJSC Surgutfondinvest, CJSC Neftinvest, LLC Neft-Consulting (shares of the founders - 19.86%) created the investment company Kias ". And she, in turn, created 23 "daughters", contributing to their authorized capital at face value 83,490 ordinary shares"Surgutneftegaz" for each (all this is indicated in their primary issue prospectuses). In total, 2 billion shares of the oil company were accumulated, or 8.4% of its voting shares at that time (6.4% of the authorized capital). In each of these companies, in the quarterly report, the functions of the board of directors and the general director for transactions with Surgutneftegaz shares "in the amount of more than 0.05%" of the authorized capital are still limited. Although, judging by their balance sheets, these companies have long been "dummy".
Meanwhile, from the end of 1999, Surgutneftegaz formally no longer had any relation to Kias and its subsidiaries: five of them equally bought out the shares of the investment company. And then each bought 15.91% of the other "sisters", and the structure completely "looped". Already with the new structure of the company, "rings" established in 2002 15 non-profit partnerships. Seven of them had financial investments in 2003-2005. just totaled tens of billions of rubles. And 14 NPs from the general list also became the founders of the four LLCs with the same multibillion-dollar investments.
All the companies of the "ring" and its "daughters" are managed only by the managers of "Surgutneftegaz" and structures controlled by it, up to yesterday's students, engineers of the second category and other employees of "Surgut". General Director of "Kias" Anton Molchanov - part-time head of securities "Surgutneftegaz" - declined to comment.