The full length article can be found in the BNN portal in English, Latvian and Russian.

Read an abstract here …

Meroni-led companies show good performance

August 7, 2012

Companies led by Rudolf Meroni show good performance in terms of turnover and profit, which he himself describes as very successful. To give an example, Ventbunkers profit is up despite dropping amount of cargoes.

Rudolf Meroni

Back in 2010, Ventbunkers’ turnover reached 41.1 million lats, compared to 36.1 million lats in 2009. Whereas, compared to 3.4 million lats made in 2009, the company’s profit hit 6.7 million lats in 2010.

Besides, last year Ventbunkers signed a contract with Mercurio for a record rate – 8.10 euro cents per ton. It should be added that back when Olafs Berkis was in charge of the company, the same tariffs reached mere 2.55 euro cents.

Similarly, also the company Baltijas Ekspresis’ net profit is up 38%, totalling 1,7 millions lats.

Also potassium salt transhipment company Kalija Parks shows good performance – its profit before provisions and tax reaches 925 000 lats.

Last year transit company AS Ventspils tirdzniecības osta’s turnover accounted for 26.64 million lats. It is an increase of 9.6% over 2010, when the company turned 24.31 million lats. Profit is up 57% from 353 171 lats in 2010 to 554 580 lats in 2011.

It should be noted though that last year was not that successful for Ventbunkers, because the Russian concern Lukoil’s subsidiary Litasco had blocked its terminal and railways. It is exactly for this reason why the company failed to meet expectations – 11 millions lats.

Such Litasco’s activities pushed Ventbunkers into a loss of 28.19 million lats, so in late 2011 Meroni-led Ventbunkers management prepared a claim against Litasco to compensate for damages. If the amount was recovered, the company’s profit performance would be impressive.

The full length article can be found in the BNN portal in English, Latvian and Russian.

The article in BNN-NEWS.COM reports as follows (see also the latvian version):

Prosecutor General’s Office too weak for Lembergs

and further on states that:

The accused Latvian politician Aivars Lembergs seems to be gradually recovering his control over the Latvian oil business. His moves remain unnoticed and are partly approved by inactions of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Ventspils millionaires Olafs Berkis, Olegs Stepanovs, Igors Skoks and Genadijs Sevcovs have been elected into the AS Ventspils nafta Supervisory Council. They are all believed to have in mind one and the same thought of selling the Latvian oil business. They intend to do it bypassing the state as the potential owner of the seized Lembergs’ shares.

Besides, the persons have carried out a variety of schemes that have brought the state and the company huge losses. Now there is a possibility that national oil business will simply be sold and the money will travel straight into the pockets of Lembergs and Berkis. But the Prosecutor General’s Office seems not to to be concerned.

The enthusiasm from 2007 about the fight against corruption has practically faded and politicians no longer fear possible punishment that much. Lembergs recently gained access to oil companies’ money in cooperation with Berkis, Skoks, Sevcovs and Stepanovs, who had falsified documents and held a number of fake shareholder meetings. This makes it easier to keep bribing politicians and officials who are never tortured by their conscience.

To read the full article (which we recommend) please go to bnn-news.com for the english version – or to bnn.lv for the latvian version.

Abstract of this video:
Dr. Rudolf Meroni, chairman of the supervisory board of AS Ventbunkers
explains how business used to be governed in the past and his
efforts to change this for better. Rudolf Meroni also describes
how management is being performed today in AS Ventbunkers – without
black payments, kickbacks and other illegal schemes.

The full transscript of this video:

Question:
Ventspils business practices:
– what has changed?
– what to expect for the future?

Answer:

The business in practice in Ventspils is a rather
unique one. Whereas normally in interantional business
companies there are managers, top managers who have a
very important saying role in how the business is carried
out. This historically was not the case in the business
companies in Ventspils.

There were always managers of different levels but behind
everything, even behind the supervisory boards of the
companies there was always in the past some hidden
shareholders which did in reality decide even the smallest
things in the companies.

So it was not that the managers were real managers in the
past, but they were more or less puppets who had to do
what the big boys, the big shareholders in the background
told them.

I tried to change this system, I tried to come from a
normal western perspective, to try to appoint highly
qualified managers. We did it in the first step mainly
in the company Ventbunkers. We have appointed a management
which is in my eyes highly qualified professionals who do
a very good job and which have a competence to take certain
decisions within the framework of the internal corporate
governance rules.

I believe that these managers who are well paid, I believe
they have a good salary. They do good bonuses as in every
other company, but they have no black payments. They have
just the normal salaries as is normal.

They do their job for the company and they try to do it in
the best interest of the company. I always told them: I
want that all the business is done perfectly clean, everything
is in the balance sheet of the company, no black businesses,
no hidden kickbacks or other things.

I believe that this was for the first time in the last
2 or 3 three years in the company Ventbunkers that we have
operated on such a basis.

I believe the situation is promissing and I believe that
if this is continued for the future, this will be a real
success.

Obviously it is unique, that through  the position I have
been given by the general prosecutors office to control a
number of votes, an important number of votes in these
companies I was in a position to push back the power of
the real shareholders. This obviously not always been
very well received.

You are aware of the difficulties we had with illegal
shareholders meetings, illegal attempts to change the results
of shareholders meetings and obviously this is the
counterpart. The so called hidden shareholders tried to fight back
with this kind of illegal schemes.

For the time being I believe the situation is more or less
under control and I hope for the future that the stability
for the companies will be asured and that we have a good
situation that such are not going to happen anymore.

I can obviously not be 100% sure, but I am optimistic
that for the year 2011 we will not have such illegal attempts
on the current legitimate management of Ventbunkers and other
companies.

Speaker: Dr. Rudolf Meroni for AS Ventbunkers.

Dr. RUdolf Meroni, chairman of the supervisory board of AS Ventbunkers
explains how business used to be governed in the past and his
efforts to change this for better. Rudolf Meroni also describes
how management is being performed today in AS Ventbunkers - without
black payments, kickbacks and other illegal schemes.

Lukoil subsidiary Litasco, in dispute with Ventbunkers, begins a misleading propaganda campaign trying to influence even Latvian Ministers.
The CEO of Litasco, Sergey Chaplygin, arrived in Riga, Latvia at the beginning of the week – not to resolve problems with A/S Ventbunkers (VBU), but to wage a propaganda campaign and spread false information to journalists.

Litasco, in breach of contract, still refuses to lift 120,000 metric tons of their fuel oil from Ventbunkers terminal. With this act Litasco has paralyzed the fuel oil transit business through the port of Ventspils. The Litasco CEO Sergey Chaplygin arrived earlier this week with other Litasco managers. So far they have met with the Minister of Justice Aigars Stokenbergs.

The press release for full reading: Lukoil subsidiary Litasco, in dispute with Ventbunkers

This is really a strange situation for Ventbunkers. Litasco blocking the Ventbunkers terminal – for what reason?

Sounds like LITSCO is pushing themselves into the corner …

Ventbunkers hopes for better results in the negotiations with Litasco

A meeting in Zurich earlier this week, between Litasco and Ventbunkers (VBU), ended with no real results because Litasco decided to play some games. The VBU management hopes for better results at the next round of talks scheduled for today, January 28.

“At least we were able to sit down at one table with the CEO of Litasco, Mr. Chaplygin,” stated Rudolf Meroni, Chairman of the VBU Supervisory Board. ‘This in itself is an achievement, something the VBU management was waiting for. A problem of this magnitude should be resolved without delay. We need results and we need them now. Every day is costing hundred thousand USD or more, but Litasco prefers to play games.“

Read the full press release: Ventbunkers negotiating with LITASCO

Rudolf Meroni (A/s Ventbunkers) and Sergei Chaplygin (Litasco SA)  return to the negotiation table

Dr. Rudolf Meroni the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of A/s Ventbunkers (VBU) informed that after weeks of a stalemate in the dispute  with the Lukoil subsidiary Litasco, the parties have agreed on negotiations to discuss the problems regarding oil fuel stored at the Ventbunkers terminal located in the port city of Ventspils, Latvia.

Read the full press release: Rudolf Meroni (Ventbunkers) and Sergei Chaplygin (Litasco)

Abstract:
Dr. Rudolf Meroni, chairman of the supervisory board of
AS Ventbunkers explains how he had to fight against
illegal schemes attacking the company.
Taking unfair advantage out of a company does a lot
of damage to the business, as Rudolf Meroni explains.

Question:

Protecting the interests of all shareholders equally:
– is it a difficult task?
– how do you accomplish this?

Answer:

Yes, to a certain degree I would say it is correct, that
it is not an easy task to satisfy everybody.
I would actually say: it is sometimes very difficult.

On the other hand I am guided by the idea that if the
company is run clean and fair and doing all the business
officially it is in the best interest of everybody.

It is in the best interest of all the shareholders,
it is in the best interest of the state which collects taxes,

I have had the problem that in various areas I had to fight
against illegal schemes which had been established by
part owners of the companies trying to take unfair
advantages out of the companies.

So this is my main goal to fight against such schemes
and I will try to continue to do it in the future.
I have done it in the past and in some cases I believe
I have achieved quite some considerable results,
but hope to be even more successful in the future.

Rudolf Meroni: Litasco is running out of time. Ventbunkers will store fuel oil offshore.

Litasco (a subsidiary of LUKOIL) is illegally blocking A/s Ventbunkers’ (VBU) terminal facilities in an attempt to illegally force VBU to sign a fuel oil transshipment agreement for 2011.

At the same time Litasco blocks the export of fuel oil by rail through Latvia causing millions of damages to the Latvian economy. According to Aivars Gobins, Ventbunkers Media Director, Litasco has only a few days left to lift their fuel oil from VBU terminal before the first vessel, chartered by VBU, arrives in Ventspils port later this week to store the fuel oil offshore on account of Litsaco. However, the Latvian customs authorities still have to approve this measure.

Read the full Press release as PDF file: Rudolf Meroni: Litasco is running out of time.

Abstract:

Dr. Rudolf Meroni, the chairman of the supervisory board of AS Ventbunkers
on the history of his involvement in various Ventspils companies.
Furthermore Rudolf Meroni explains his role for the shareholders
and his current position in AS Ventbunkers.

Question:

How did you get involved in the Ventspils transit business?
What was your position in the beginning?

Answer:

That’s actually a quite interesting and long story but I
will try to make it not too long:

I started to work together with people having financial
interests in Ventspils in the beginning of the 1990s.

I was invited by a number of shareholders to assist them
in establishing international holding structures.

For a long period of time I was generally speaking only
involved with the holding structures which had a certain
interest and which had made investments in the Ventspils
port.

The situation changed around 2005/2006.
In 2005/2006 there started to be some problems between
different shareholders groups and they had difficulties
to find an agreement among themselves and I was then
invited to become the chairman of the supervisory board
of AS Ventbunkers which is the most important holding
and operating company in the Ventspils oil transit business.

At that point in time 100% of the shareholders – all of
them – invited me wether I would agree to act as a king of
neutral figues in this business to help them to make
decisions, that when there are different groups of equal
force, that in case of difficulties I would make a
business judgement and help them to make decisions.

From that time on, when I became the chairman of the board
of Ventbunkers my role became different and I had obviously
a much better insight into the day to day operations, whereas
in the past I was more involved only with the investments
and the aspects from the viewpoint of the shareholders.

Speaking in this video is Mr. Rudolf Meroni.

Youtube abstract:

In this video Dr. Rudolf Meroni, the chairman of the supervisory board
of AS Ventbunkers explains how he was appointed a caretaker for the
shares of the Lembergs family in the Ventspils oil transit business.
Dr. Rudolf Meroni also explains the relation between AS Ventbunkers,
Latvija naftas tranzits, Ventspils Commercial Port und Kalia Parks.

Question:

Your influence in the Ventspils transit business:
– what is your role?
– what is the historical backgroud?

How and why did the court decide to make you the most influential person
in the transit business?
I understand that you control the majority of the shares in Ventspils largest companies.
Which are they?

Answer:
In 2007 the criminal investigation against Aivars Lembergs
had reached a point where the general prosecutors office
of Latvia decided that certain of the international assets
which are said to belong to Mr. Lembergs should be arrested,
should be attached by legal procedures.

In that period of time when the prosecutors office decided
to make such an attachment they asked me wether I would be
ready to act as a custodian – a custodian with a role
to actively control the handling of these assets and also
to excercise the voting rights related to these potentially
attached assets.

I agreed that I would possibly do that, based on the knowledge
I had and based on the role I already had in the various
companies. I seemed to be one of the persons who understood
what these investments were. So I accepted this task and in
December 2007 the general prosecutors office of the Republic
of Latvia arrested most assets which they considered to
belong to the Lembergs family.

They gave me the task to be the administrator – or better to say
the custodian – to watch after the wellbeing of these investments.

Since then I have such a role, mostly in the company Ventbunkers
but also in the Ventbunkers daughter company Latvija naftas tranzits,
that is in the oil transit business.
I had a similar role also in the Ventspils Commercial Port which
is handling dry cargo and also in Kalia Parks which is handling
potash on a large scale and which is one of the largest potash
terminals in the baltic sea region, and various other companies
which are controlled by these groups.

So, this made me a person with a certain saying in these companies
and I have tried since then to establish a system that these companies
are run on a perfectly clean basis, that the employees actually have
real management roles whereas in the past sometimes in some of the
Ventspils companies the business was run by some hidden shareholders
and the actual management had sometimes a rather restricted role.

So my perspective of the Ventspils transit business is that the
companies should be run by professional managers with good
international language skills, with good business knowledge
and that these managers should have an active role in the business
and take actual decisions always guided by the respective
supervisory boards which are supervising the actual working and
the function of the operation of these transit business companies.

Speaker: Dr. Rudolf Meroni for AS Ventbunkers.