The corporate chosen by Italy’s authorities to take over the nation’s largest oil refinery from its Russian proprietor has hyperlinks to mining govt Beny Steinmetz, who was convicted of corruption.
The ties between the Franco-Israeli billionaire and GOI Power, which purchased the Sicilian refinery from Lukoil this yr with help from the commodity dealer Trafigura, elevate questions over the sale and possession of an asset Rome deems strategic.
Steinmetz, who was convicted of corruption in Switzerland and Romania, travelled to Rome and Milan in November and December 2022 to debate a €1.5bn bid for the refinery with legal professionals and advisers, in response to 4 folks with information of the conferences.
Steinmetz was accompanied by Alexia Bakoyannis on these journeys, in response to three of the folks. She is the niece of Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and owns shares in Cyprus-based GOI Power, of which she was additionally briefly a board member, in response to firm data.
A Steinmetz household basis can be an investor in Argus New Power Fund, the biggest shareholder in GOI Power, in response to labeled paperwork utilized by the Italian authorities to approve the transaction.
One other hyperlink is the chief govt of GOI Power, Michael Bobrov, who holds a stake within the Cyprus firm and can be a shareholder in a refinery owned by sons-in-law of Steinmetz in Israel.
The compelled sale of the Sicilian plant, which accounts for a fifth of Italy’s refining capability, happened because the EU was making ready to ban imports of Russian seaborne and petroleum merchandise in December final yr. Rome exercised its golden powers, which give it the best to veto offers or impose necessities over the acquisition of strategic property.
Regardless of considerations raised by the US, the federal government run by Giorgia Meloni accepted the sale to GOI Power after the corporate outbid US non-public fairness agency Crossbridge and Swiss commodity dealer Vitol. It had additionally provided stronger reassurances over jobs and operations, the federal government stated on the time.
“The ISAB refinery is a important a part of Italy’s refining system, accounting for 30 per cent of its diesel provide and 20 per cent of whole capability,” stated Viktor Katona, analyst at information supplier Kpler. “When Europe’s third-largest refinery finally ends up being bought to a largely unknown firm, that does positively elevate eyebrows.”
In September, Steinmetz was arrested in Cyprus on the idea of a European Arrest Warrant issued by Romania, the place he was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 5 years in jail for corruption in an actual property fraud case. The 67-year-old govt was launched this month after the Cypriot supreme courtroom overturned an earlier extradition ruling.
Steinmetz has stated the Romanian trial and sentence had been politically motivated. Italy and Greece additionally refused to hold out Bucharest’s arrest warrant.
The billionaire was handed one other bribery conviction in 2021 from a Swiss courtroom following a mining case involving the acquisition of Guinean iron-ore fields. Steinmetz has appealed in opposition to the choice.
The scion of a diamond enterprise dynasty, Steinmetz expanded the household fortune within the late Eighties. BSG Assets operates in 25 international locations with actions spanning mining, oil and gasoline, and metals.
GOI Power stated that “a basis, whose [ultimate beneficial owners] embrace members of Mr Steinmetz’s household (however not Mr Steinmetz) is a minority investor within the Argus fund, because it has clearly been totally disclosed to the Italian competent authorities”.
They stated that Steinmetz was not an investor in GOI Power.
Steinmetz’s sons-in-law Ohad and Eder Schwartz collectively personal Israel-based Inexperienced Oil Israel, which operates the Bazan refinery positioned in Haifa Bay, northern Israel, in response to Israeli data. Bobrov additionally owns a 50 per cent stake within the Bazan refinery, the data present.
In response to questions, the Italian business ministry stated the golden powers are designed to protect power safety, including: “In-depth research had been carried out on the financiers/traders concerned . . . in addition to on the relationships between Inexperienced Oil (Israel) Ltd . . . and members of the Steinmetz household.”
Bakoyannis additionally assisted Steinmetz in Cyprus as his communications adviser when he was preventing extradition to Romania, in response to statements associated to the proceedings.
GOI Power stated any questions on Steinmetz’s conferences in Italy with GOI Power’s legal professionals in December 2022 “ought to be referred to Mr Steinmetz”, including that Steinmetz “doesn’t in any manner characterize GOI Power”. A spokesperson for Steinmetz in Israel, referred to the Monetary Occasions by Bakoyannis, couldn’t remark.
Italian officers stated that Rome’s major focus was to make sure no Russian traders or crude could be secretly channelled again into the refinery.
Italy was comforted that underneath the phrases of the GOI Power deal crude and dealing capital for the refinery is being equipped by Trafigura, the folks stated. Bobrov beforehand labored for Trafigura as head of the dealer’s Israel operations. Trafigura declined to remark.
One Italian who reviewed the Cypriot provide stated: “We had been comforted by the actual fact the Cypriot fund had no hyperlink to the Russians, and that Steinmetz had a report of working comparable operations as his household and Bobrov additionally personal the Bazan refinery in Israel.”
The Cypriot firm data present that 76 per cent of GOI Power is held by Argus New Power Fund, whose shareholders are two Nicosia-based legal professionals. Bobrov owns a 20 per cent stake.
The remaining 4 per cent is evenly break up between Completicos Holdings, of which Bakoyannis is a shareholder, and Itzik Gur, in response to firm data. Gur is an Israeli nationwide who was listed as a Steinmetz “affiliate” in a New York state courtroom subpoena. Gur couldn’t be reached for remark.
GOI Power stated that Bakoyannis, Bobrov and Gur had been “all impartial businesspeople . . . with an intensive portfolio of purchasers, partnerships and collaborations”.
Extra reporting by Tom Wilson in London
This story has been up to date to mirror the truth that Trafigura ended up supplying crude to the refinery as had been deliberate