Official documents obtained by the National Registration Centre also confirm the changes made in the company’s extract and the sale of the 80 percent stake owned by Rezart Ta詠’s to Heaney Assets Corporation which has also committed to pay off the company’s debts
TIRANA, August 12 – An Azerbaijan-based company has taken over the majority 80 percent stake in Albania’s ARMO oil refiner for an undisclosed figure as the company had been blocked by tax authorities and was involved in a chain of debts with banks and other market operators. The sale is also confirmed by the Economy and Energy Ministry which holds a minority 15 percent stake in the refinery after selling the 85 percent stake to a consortium led by Albanian businessman Rezart Ta詠back in 2008. Official documents obtained by the National Registration Centre also confirm the changes made in the company’s extract and the sale of the 80 percent stake owned by Rezart Ta詠’s to Heaney Assets Corporation which has also committed to pay off the company’s debts. The Azerbaijani company is quite unknown and does not even have a website address. The sale comes soon after the TAP pipeline bringing Azerbaijani gas to Europe through Greece, Albania and Italy has been announced the winning project. Back in 2008, a consortium led-by Ta詧s Anika Enterprises bought an 85 percent stake in ARMO oil refiner for Euro 128 million (USD 183 million). The deal was reportedly financed by the Azerbaijani state bank with 75 million Euros. The bank had recently sued Ta詠for failing to pay demanding the seizure of ARMO’s assets.
Albania’s deputy Energy Minister Enno Bozdo describes the contractual operations as regular and hopeful, in accordance with Albanian law and as real trade operations with shares. In an interview with VoA in the local Albanian service he says ARMO has been regularly inspected and government will launch legal action for lack of investments. He confirms the Azerbaijani company has recognized all the company’s obligations and committed to respect them.
Meanwhile, Konfindustria’s administrator Gjergj Buxhuku describes the failure of the ARMO privatization as having severe consequences to the Albanian economy. “The privatization of ARMO is one of the biggest failures in the Albanian economy of the post 1990s. The oil market accounts for 10 to 12 percent of the GDP with an annual turnover of 1 billion euros,” he says. Albania is the only important oil producer in South East Europe with perspectives for huge reserves which paradoxically exports huge quantities of crude oil and imports all fuel,” says Buxhuku.
The sale of ARMO follows almost one month of protests by hundreds of ARMO workers who had remained jobless after the suspension of work by the customs authorities over unpaid taxes.
Hundreds of employees of the ARMO oil refinery in Fier and Ballsh, southern Albania, had been staging protests over the blockage of work by tax authorities, warning that they could enter a hunger strike if no immediate solution was given to the situation. Tax authorities had blocked work over unpaid taxes while company officials describe the attacks as politically motivated.
ARMO’s assets include two refineries in Ballsh and Fier, one thermal power plant. The oil refinery employs some 3,000 people.
“Since 4 years this private venture has been facing illegal fines and deliberate arbitrariness. During the last four years, this section of the state structures has fined ARMO Company with about 100 million dollars, while only in the last few months fines amounted to $ 60 million,” company representatives claimed.
“Since five years, we have been under a constant pressure from certain sections of the state of Albania. In the last five years we have worked only 11 months in the plant of Ballsh,” said Aurel Stavre, the director of the refinery in Ballsh.
Albanian Screen, the rebranded TV channel previously known as Alsat, which Ta詠bought back in 2010 has not reported the news on the sale of ARMO refiner.
Known as Albania’s oil magnate, Rezart Ta詠entered the Albanian oil market in 2003 when he established Taci Oil initially operating in Shengjin Port, northern Albania. Through his companies, Anika Enetreprises and Kuid Taci expanded his network of petrol stations to 300, around a third of the total retail sale points.
Rezart Taci also earned international fame for brining Real Madrid and AC Milan football clubs to Albania paying huge amounts.
Albpetrol bluff
Rezart Taci, whose consortium in 2008 bought 85 percent of the refinery’s shares for 128 million euros ($183 million), recently failed to buy Albpetrol oil company after a Euro 850 million winning bid. The tender was cancelled after Vetro Energy consortium-led by Taci failed to pay off a bid guarantee in early 2013.
In early 2013, the Albanian government invalidated a record staggering bid worth Euro 850 million on the privatization of Albpetrol oil firm after the winning bidder, Albanian-led Vetro Energy consortium led by Rezart Taci, failed to pay the financial guarantee leading to the finalization of the contract. After failing to meet the legal deadlines on the payment of the 20 percent financial guarantee twice, the Albanian government left Vetro Energy an undetermined date to deposit Euro 170 million as a precondition to finalize the contract but finally decided to cancel Vetro’s bid as invalid after the consortium failed to pay off the guarantee. The Albanian government is now seeking in damages the 10 percent bid guarantee from Vetro Energy, worth Euro 85 million, but there are strong allegations that Vetro Energy, a newly founded consortium, has not deposited its 10 percent bid guarantee, and the Albanian government won’t be able to withdraw it.
