Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov took out US$400 million loan through DTEK from Russian Sberbank, leak reveals

DTEK, the energy company owned by Ukraine’s wealthiest person, Rinat Akhmetov, transferred a loan of around US$400 million from Russia’s Sberbank to its subsidiary.

Source: Slidstvo.Info, citing Cyprus Confidential, a new leak of Cypriot documents

Details: Cyprus Confidential is a global investigation based on a leak of 3.6 million documents from six Cypriot firms involved in company registration and consulting. It was conducted by 270 journalists from 69 media outlets, led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Germany’s Paper Trail Media.

"In the Cyprus Confidential leak, ICIJ journalist Tetiana Kozyrieva revealed the extent of Rinat Akhmetov's business holdings, including direct or indirect interests in 60 offshore companies, mostly registered in Cyprus.

Most of the companies that are part of Akhmetov's network are connected to System Capital Management Ltd (SCM), Akhmetov's corporate consortium, through which the oligarch significantly influences vital sectors of the Ukrainian economy," the material says.

The files, in particular, shed light on Akhmetov's involvement in Russia's coal industry after the 2014 annexation of Crimea.

In 2016, DTEK transferred ownership of several coal mines to its Cyprus-based subsidiary, Fabcell Ltd. The company had bought these mines in the south-west of Russia, in Rostov Oblast, four years earlier.

"DTEK also transferred its obligations under a significant loan of about US$400 million from Sberbank (Russia's largest state-owned bank) to the subsidiary," reports Slidstvo.Info. "In January 2017, Fabcell reclassified its shares into 7,999 common shares and one golden share. The golden share was assigned to Sberbank, allowing the bank to gain control over Akhmetov's company in the event that it failed to fulfil its obligations."

In a statement to ICIJ, Akhmetov said that SCM Holdings Ltd. is the only Cypriot company in which he is a "direct shareholder", and that SCM consists of 500 legal entities in various jurisdictions. He also noted that DTEK’s holding company is registered in the Netherlands.

Akhmetov also said in his response that the financing provided by Sberbank and other lenders before the 2014 Russian invasion was "standard practice for Ukrainian borrowers".

After the invasion, Akhmetov said, "the situation changed dramatically", and DTEK attempted to sell its Rostov coal mines.

When no buyer was found, ownership of the mines was transferred to Fabcell in order to "limit (DTEK’s) vulnerability to Sberbank’s claims as a creditor and pave the way for DTEK to exit its investments in the Rostov coal mines," Akhmetov said in the statement.

Update: DTEK said that they have no involvement in coal mines in the Russian Federation, having divested all their coal assets in Russia in 2021.

"DTEK Group fully divested all its coal assets in the aggressor country in 2021. In the last three years, the company has had nothing to do with these assets. The decision to sell the mines in Rostov Oblast was taken in 2014 in connection with Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of war in the east of Ukraine.

Since then, DTEK Group has ceased all investments and capital expenditure and started the process of exiting the business.

We would remind you that DTEK Energy acquired the coal mines in Rostov Oblast before the start of Russia’s aggression, back in 2011-2012, to ensure the operation of thermal power plants," the company asserted.

Background: 

• Leaked documents from Cyprus Confidential have also revealed that Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s wealthiest person, almost certainly bought a two-storey penthouse in Chelsea Barracks in London for US$122 million in 2022.

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