By KYIV. Oct 27 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) fined the investment company LetterOne Holdings (Luxembourg) of the Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman and the German chemical concern BASF of UAH 25 million each for concentration by creating the company Wintershall Dea (Germany) without obtaining the appropriate permission from the regulator, the AMCU press service has reported.
According to the report, the regulator made the corresponding decision at a meeting on October 26.
Wintershall (a subsidiary of BASF) and DEA (Deutsche Erdoel AG, owned by LetterOne) completed their merger in May 2019, making Wintershall DEA the largest European private oil and gas company. The cost of the deal was not disclosed at the time.
BASF received 67% of the shares of the merged company, and LetterOne of Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev – the remaining 33%.
LetterOne was founded and at the time of the agreement was controlled by Russian businessmen who were, in particular, co-owners of Alfa-Bank and its subsidiary Alfa-Bank Ukraine (now nationalized Sense Bank) – Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev.
Wintershall Dea has been a partner with Russia’s Gazprom in a number of hydrocarbon production projects. At the end of 2022, it announced its exit from Russia and the associated write-off of EUR 5.3 billion. The company explained this decision by the actions of the Russian authorities.
