Matthias Westman - Маттиас Вестман
Names that keep popping up in the same articles as Matthias Westwood – Yukos, UES Russia, TNK-BP, Surgutneftegaz.
Yukos – Prosperity Capital Management was a minor shareholder in Yukos
BP – Accused BP of swindling small shareholders out of $3 billion in dividends (2004)
UES – Minority shareholder, works with the Kremlin to protect other minority shareholders. (2000-2001) He did meet with Putin in July of 2002 about this issue
Surgutneftegaz – Was part of the group that sued Surgutneftegaz because the company were screwing minority shareholders in getting seats of the board
“Matthias Westman, chief executive of Prosperity Capital Management and a shareholder in Yukos, the oil producer declared bankrupt this week, says that Nafta has also been buying shares in Yukos over the past six months. Sources close to Nafta deny this.”
Westman told the press that unlike the share issue of OGK-2, which is controlled by Gazprom, New Russian Generation "would be an alternative to purchasing shares in an individual electricity company with a small free float or where investors faced concerns about control by Gazprom."
Minority shareholders in Russia, Belgium and British Virgin Islands are suing the company Abramovich owns together with BP to the tune of one billion dollars. The British Prosperity Capital Management is one of the claimants, having invested 650 million dollars’ worth of investments in this country. It represents a pension fund of one of Britain’s counties as well as a number of insurers and major City players.
One of co-founders of Prosperity Capital Matthias Westman was astounded. “It is surprising”, he said, “that big corporations think they can get scot-free after anything they do in Russia!”
In the first quarter of this year they withdrew 750 million dollars from the companies with minority shareholders to play into the hands of those companies where they are not present. “It is inadmissible to us”, says Westman, “for acting this way TNK-BP can squeeze up to three billion dollars from such companies.
(Old from 2004)
Westman of Prosperity Capital said he has holdings in the oil companies Sibneft and TNK because they have good management and are undervalued. Westman also likes the Russian power sector, which he says could benefit from further restructuring this year. His holdings include the power companies Kostromskaya and Nizhnovenergo.
Впрочем, даже среди тех инвесторов, которые признают позитивное влияние на экономику всесильного Путина, говорят о существовании рисков, вызванных закрытостью и непрозрачностью политической системы. Маттиас Вестман (MattiasWestman), директор инвестиционного фонда ProsperityCapitalManagement, управляющего российскими активами в размере $4,5 млрд., считает, что «с точки зрения сохранения стабильности, конечно же, будет хорошо» если Путин сохранит за собой эффективные функции лидера. Однако, возникает вопрос о том, «будет липолезно для политической среды, если государственные решения будет принимать человек, не занимающий президентский пост».
He was on the board of OAO Lenenergo. RAO UES Russia owns more than 50% shares in Lenenergo.
Westman also serves as an arbiter for the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, which tries to resolve rows about unethical business practices.
WESTERN SHAREHOLDER RIGHTS' ACTIVISTS
Moscow investors Mattias Westman, director of Prosperity Capital Management, and William Browder, director of Hermitage Capital Management, have worked with the Kremlin to protect minority shareholders in utility UES
The coalition includes Western shareholders' rights activists such as Prosperity's Westman; a crew of liberal policy advisers including Economics Minister German O. Gref and top economic adviser Andrei N. Illarionov; and the so-called control freaks--law-enforcement leaders including ex-Prime Minister Sergei V. Stepashin, who now heads the Duma's watchdog Audit Chamber.
“A key member of Gref’s team, Elvira Nabiullina is also well known to Prosperity from our work in the power sector. In negotiations of RAO UES shareholders (including PCM) and the government in 2001, Elvira Nabiullina spent a lot of time working on the changes to the RAO UES charter and can be characterised as honest, competent and very professional. We believe her appointment is a positive change for the Ministry.”