Mysterious Russian trading firm lifts the veil a bit further

Russia's largest private gas trader Itera yesterday unveiled more information about its ownership as part of efforts to distance itself from gas giant Gazprom. "A 26.01 per cent stake is being trust-managed for Igor Makarov, the chairman of Itera Group NV," the statement said.

The firm named five U.S. citizens and a Swiss national, who it said were unlinked to Gazprom and held 13 per cent of its shares while 87 per cent are held by trusts and employees. It said Raisa Frankel owned four percent of the shares, while Ted Cavallerosa, Steven Sisselman, Steven Koegler and Galina Weber held two per cent each. A sixth individual Lazar Finker owned one per cent, the statement said.

The statement added that 60.99 per cent of the Itera Group NV were in the hands of two funds under an employee stock option scheme, which was managed by the Van Doorn FSI Ltd.
Itera Group NV, registered in the Netherlands, is the main company in a holding that unites over 100 firms and employs 8,000 people. The firm which supplied 85 billion cubic metres of gas last year to ex-Soviet states was founded in 1992.

Itera has vociferously denied allegations that secret links with Gazprom and access to its fields and pipelines have fuelled its meteoric success in recent years. It says the rumours are damaging its plans to tap financial markets to fund expansion.

The company plans a New York stock market listing in three years and has retained Arthur Andersen as its auditor. "Neither Gazprom nor its management are shareholders in Itera even though Gazprom is one of our main partners and participates in joint ventures for exploration, drilling and production of gas," the statement said.

Industry analysts poured cold water on the information, saying Itera's latest statement was tight-lipped on concrete details and did little to clear the haze around itself. "Nothing has actually been clarified. A 26 per cent stake held in trust for Makarov does not tell me anything," said Ivan Mazalov, energy analyst at Troika Dialog brokerage.

"They have a long way to go as far as transparency is concerned," said Konstantin Reznikov at Alfa Bank, adding that investors were more interested in the nature of deals between Gazprom and Itera, rather than shareholder structure. "You can benefit (from deals) even if you are not a shareholder," he said.

The alleged secret links with Itera are at the centre of a storm at Gazprom's board with minority shareholders claiming Gazprom assets are being siphoned off systematically into Itera. They point out that Itera's gas production has been rising steadily in past years while Gazprom output is declining.