As part of the "Suggest to the Ministry" campaign, we analyzed why a loss-making Danish company with a short history and an owner with a business in Moscow decided to invest in the Berdyansk port.
Ukrainian ports are eagerly awaiting foreign investors. Investors want to manage Ukrainian ports and profit from cargo handling. The state hopes to grant the ports a concession and distribute the resulting profits. But will this happen? Who is ready to enter the Ukrainian port services market, and with what resources? A brief investigation using a relatively small Ukrainian port as an example gives us pause.
So, let's take things in order. On July 15, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yuriy Lavrenyuk held a meeting with the directors of commercial seaports and the State Enterprise "USPU." The official emphasized that state stevedores must take all necessary measures to create equal and transparent conditions for working with foreign investors at ports. And, likely, no one present doubted that if abuses or barriers to foreign investment by port directors were discovered, strict measures would be taken. Thus, a most-favored-nation regime for foreign investors was declared.
On July 28, on the 112 Ukraine TV channel, Deputy Minister Yuriy Lavrenyuk announced that state-owned companies operating in Ukraine's seaports would undergo an external, independent financial audit. The audit is a mandatory component of the Ministry of Infrastructure's new anti-corruption policy.
An audit is mandatory for enterprises subordinate to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine that are planned for concession. According to the official, there are a large number of Western companies willing to become concessionaires, but they must be confident in the companies' sound financial standing.
"This is being done so that the state, having transferred a specific facility to the concessionaire, will be interested in us offering the investor the best terms, and so that the investor himself will see a 'clean slate' regarding a particular enterprise," noted Yuriy Lavrenyuk.
Concern for investors' interests is understandable. However, the question immediately arises: what about the audit of the investors themselves? Who determines their status and competence? What mechanism has the Ministry of Infrastructure developed to deal with abuses by foreigners?
So far, it seems, none. Otherwise, the story we're about to tell simply wouldn't have happened.
Shortly before the Deputy Minister's statements, on July 11, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Infrastructure, chaired by Deputy Minister Nadezhda Kaznacheeva. The meeting included Nikolai Ilyin, head of the BMTP State Enterprise, Vyacheslav Reznikov, head of the AMPU Charitable Foundation, and unnamed representatives of a company calling itself Trade Institute Scandinavia. The company, which positions itself on Facebook as "Consulting/Business Services," proudly announced this on its page on July 12. For some reason, the Ministry of Infrastructure's press service did not report this landmark meeting.
On July 18, the Berdyansk Seaport received an unsigned and unsealed letter from the director of the Danish company Royal Randers Ltd. In it, a certain Bulat R.A. requested that the port provide information and a number of documents, including title deeds and restricted access documents, by July 19 to hold a meeting of the Berdyansk Seaport Council (scheduled for July 21), specifically dedicated to attracting international investment.
Anyone who has ever dealt with such documentation understands that preparing such a volume of information about a state-owned enterprise in a single day is quite challenging, especially in response to an unsigned letter. Nevertheless, given the importance of the matter, which was under the ministry's control, the materials began to be prepared for delivery. But to whom?
Naturally, such haste on the part of the potential investor sparked reciprocal interest in his immodest person. It turned out that the company's official website was registered on July 5, 2016, 15 days before the Port Council meeting, and looks like a template that hadn't even been properly populated with information.
The website was registered by a company called Randers Anpartsselskab, whose legal and actual address is Jorcks Passage 1C, 3. tv., 1162, København, (Copenhagen, Denmark).
An electronic map of the Danish capital reveals a building at this address on one of Copenhagen's streets with a sign reading "Jorcks Passage"—a medium-sized, four-story red brick building, the ground floor of which is occupied by a game store and a cafe, while the rest are likely given over to offices.
Denmark's transparency in legal entity records and the accessibility of all information, including financial information, are worth emulating. Anyone can obtain the necessary information from the electronic company register in just a few minutes.
It's no coincidence that Randers Anpartsselskab shares the same legal address as Royal Randers Ltd. It also shares the same director, Rostislav Anatolyevich Bulat, who resided in Kyiv until April 2015. As his LinkedIn page shows, he graduated from the Kyiv National University of Economics in 1997 and the Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, California, USA) in 2003.
Moreover, the Danish Register of Companies indicates that Royal Randers Ltd is a secondary name, that is, a second name for the same Randers Anpartsselskab. The company's authorized capital is 50 Danish kroner, which, at the current NBU exchange rate, is approximately 185 hryvnia. The company was registered on May 10 of this year and carries out two types of activities: 649900 - Other financial services, excluding insurance; 522920 - Brokerage services.
It's unclear how Royal Randers Ltd, also known as Randers Anpartsselskab, with a charter capital of approximately UAH 185 at the NBU exchange rate, will implement multimillion-dollar investment projects in the Berdyansk Seaport. After all, at the Berdyansk Seaport Council meeting held on May 21, this company was presented as a professional portfolio manager in port and agricultural logistics, ready to begin construction of a grain terminal (with an estimated total investment of $20 million) almost immediately.
But that's just the beginning of the story. At the Berdyansk Seaport Council meeting, the official representative of the future investor, who had a power of attorney or presented the company's charter and credentials, was absent. Instead, Andriy Kharchenko, deputy director of Asket Shipping LLC, was introduced as the "contact person for the investor company." This is a Ukrainian freight forwarding company, a long-standing client of the Berdyansk Port, which aspires to become a full-fledged port operator. Kharchenko informed those present that Royal Randers Ltd. would forward the meeting's results to the Trade Institute Scandinavia, which we already knew from the meeting at the Ministry of Infrastructure.
It turns out this "institute" is also a recently established company (July 2014) with the legal name Trade Institute Scandinavia IVS. The register lists the owner as Vitality To Life. The registered address for both is the familiar Jorcks Passage 1C, 3.tv., 1162 København.
There are seven companies registered at this address in the Danish business register NNMarkedsdata:
1.1000-Tallet ApS — (registration — 06.05.2016), manager — Alexandra Thomsen, owner not specified;
2. Ansnei ApS (10.02.2106), the board of directors is headed by Peter Kaare Thomsen, the manager is Maxim Pak, the owner is Security N It Holding ApS;
3. Security N It Holding ApS (10.02.2016), manager – Peter Kaare Thomsen, owner – Holding 2016 Ivs;
4. Holding 2016 Ivs (10.02.2016), manager and owner – Peter Kaare Thomsen;
5. Randers Anpartsseiskab (10.05.2016), manager – Rostyslav Bulat, owner not specified;
6. Vitality to Life ApS (22.08.2011), manager and owner - Peter Kaare Thomsen;
7. Trade Institute Scandinavia Ivs (21.07.2014), administrative director - Alexandra Thomsen, owner - Vitality to Life ApS.
As you can see, these companies are multiplying by budding, but the ultimate beneficiary in all of them is Peter Kaare Thomsen. On his LinkedIn profile, he calls himself a Professional Troubleshooter, which can be translated both as a slang term for "problem solver" and as a formal term for "professional business repairman."
Peter Kaare Thomsen studied at the Royal Danish Defence College from 1995 to 2001, graduating at the top of his class. Among other subjects, he studied history, political science, economics, martial arts, Serbo-Croatian, and Russian (he is fluent in the latter). This extensive knowledge led Peter to Russia, where he lived for a total of four and a half years. Three of those years were spent as the Danish trade representative in Yekaterinburg, and the remaining one and a half years as an employee at the Danish Embassy in Russia.
But that was later. Immediately after graduating from military college, he went into consulting and finance, which he still does to this day. In addition to those already mentioned, Peter founded several other companies: Secura A/S (Denmark), Brigter AB (Sweden), and Ansnei (Denmark-Russia).
Since 2015, he has been married to Alexandra Thomsen, director of two of his companies, née Russian Alexandra Zvereva.
Peter's military roots are still evident today. He is a board member of the HPRD, a public organization that unites reservists of the Royal Danish Armed Forces. His ties to the military continue in business as well. The companies Peter personally manages—Brigter AB (Sweden), Security N It Holding ApS (Denmark), and Ansnei (Denmark-Russia)—are security agencies providing bodyguard services that recruit individuals with specialized experience.
On May 17, 2016, Peter described his latest trip to Moscow on Facebook. This information suggests that the potential investor in the Ukrainian port is also actively building his business in the Russian capital.
It's also worth remembering that the security industry in Russia is controlled by law enforcement agencies, primarily the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service (FSB). Licensing and the continued operation of such businesses, especially in Moscow, are virtually impossible without the patronage of high-ranking officials from these agencies.
It is no secret that many employees of Russian private security companies (PSCs) – former members of the army's special forces, the FSB, and the GRU – took part in military operations in the Ukrainian Donbass as mercenaries.
Moscow and Kyiv are clearly linked by the activities of a Danish "investor." On June 24, a post appeared on the Facebook page of another Peter Kaare Thomsen company, Trade Institute Scandinavia, inviting anyone interested in establishing contacts in Moscow: "38 business meetings have already been scheduled for next week in Moscow, on behalf of our members. Should we schedule #40 on your behalf? Send a private message here or through our website if you also need business contacts in Russia…"
The Dane also has business contacts in Ukraine. Considering that the interests of a company affiliated with Peter Kaare Thomsen are effectively represented at the Berdyansk Sea Trade Port by an employee of the freight forwarding company Asket Shipping LLC. Peter Kaare Thomsen himself is a Facebook friend of Asket Shipping owner Denis Rusin.
Returning to the economics of enterprises that claim support from the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, let's consider, for example, Trade Institute Scandinavia. To examine its liquidity and solvency indicators, we analyzed its corporate structure and beneficiary, and obtained financial statements for 2015 from Danish public records.
Founded in 2014 and registered at the same address as Randers Anpartsselskab, a company that has been listed in the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Berdyansk port, Trade Institute Scandinavia IVS carries out only one type of activity: 702200 Business Consulting and Other Management Issues.
According to the 2015 financial report, Trade Institute Scandinavia IVS has a balance of DKK 398,000. The financial result is minus DKK 171,000, or UAH 632,000 at the current exchange rate.
The parent company of all the companies in the group, including the Trade Institute, Vitality to Life ApS, registered back in 2011, is also, to put it mildly, not exactly a shining example of achievement – its gross loss in 2015 was CZK 5000.
It seems some of the companies run by "crisis manager" Peter Kaare Thomsen are themselves in dire need of a skilled specialist in business crisis management. But no, he's drawn to Ukraine to "save" a profitable and cost-effective port, not far from the war zone with Russian mercenaries.
Let us recall that the net profit of the Berdyansk Commercial Sea Port in the first half of 2016 amounted to UAH 95,4 million.
All of the above allows us to draw several conclusions that do not claim to be the ultimate truth, but do make us wonder what kind of “investors” are seeking to enter Ukrainian ports.
Randers Anpartsselskab has a share capital of $7,5 and was established only in May 2016. None of the aforementioned companies, whose ultimate beneficiary is Peter Kaare Thomsen, have any connection to maritime transport or seaports.
Peter Kaare Thomsen's experience as a specialist in reorganizing unprofitable enterprises is of no use to the Berdyansk Commercial Sea Port, a highly profitable enterprise.
Peter Kaare Thomsen has long-standing and stable connections in very specific circles of the Russian Federation (the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB), and his business in Moscow (the Ansnei company) is possibly dependent on the leadership of the Russian security forces.
Peter Kaare Thomsen, ignoring the economic sanctions imposed by the international community against Russia, conducts business meetings in a state recognized by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as an aggressor and conducts business there. Given his regular visits to Russia, these facts require a separate investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
The organizers of the meeting between representatives of companies controlled by Peter Kaare Thomsen and the heads of the BMTP and the AMPU Charitable Foundation failed to carry out a comprehensive review of the financial and economic viability of their Danish "partners."
And finally, the most important thing. In our opinion, there's a high probability that such a foreign shell structure is a money-laundering machine, backed by investors from Russia or Ukraine. For whatever reason, they are unwilling or unable to participate in the transparent investment process in Ukraine's port industry.
Of course, we can turn a blind eye to everything that's happening and heed the mantra that only private investors can change the situation in seaports. But aren't we at risk of getting a pig in a poke, at the very least, or a Trojan horse, at the very worst, in the form of companies linked to an aggressor state?
Alexander GLUSHCHENKO, Sergey BELOUSOV
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