Word: lebedev
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...single unit of Britain's poor, battered currency? Not much - apart from power, influence and an entrée into the highest echelons of the British establishment. These are the potential byproducts of an agreement reached on Jan. 21 by Russian oligarch and politician Alexander Lebedev to buy London's largest newspaper, the Evening Standard, from its current owners Associated Newspapers for the nominal fee of one pound sterling...
...bargain-basement price is arguably the least startling aspect of a transaction that if confirmed next month following a staff consultation process - and barring any intervention by the British government - will open a new and bizarre chapter in Anglo-Russian relations. Lebedev, after all, is a former KGB operative, who spied on Britain under diplomatic cover during the Cold War, by his own account scouring news sources such as the Standard for tidbits to feed to his handlers back home. His exotic pedigree has caused a few splutters. Richard Ottway, a Conservative MP, said he felt that "the fact that...
...intervene in the deal but has indicated that he does not intend to do so. Lord Mandelson's social interaction with another oligarch, metals magnate Oleg Deripaska, attracted negative press commentary in the fall; the minister may prefer to keep a distance from the dealings of rich Russians. But Lebedev, still only 49, is no ordinary oligarch. He even rejects the label with its connotations of bling-bling lifestyle and financial secrecy, and in September confided to the Daily Telegraph that the economic slump had shrunk his fortune by two thirds. (See pictures of London's financial crisis...
...little else of the company's management, structure and independence is likely to remain. One widely held belief is that the Kremlin will take the 60% share package currently owned by the company's former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky and a small group of close associates - one of them, Platon Lebedev, like Khodorkovsky, is on trial for fraud and other charges. Yukos might in effect be nationalized, with the government holding a controlling stake and the rest spread out among compliant domestic and foreign investors. Yukos' inexorable demise has made the markets nervous, and capital flight has jumped sharply. Destroying Yukos...
...careful to stress that he was expressing his own feelings and the courts were, of course, independent. The market, however, clearly feels that the President gets what he wants. Despite this brief burst of optimism, Yukos may still be doomed. Its founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky and a top shareholder, Platon Lebedev, are on trial for fraud and tax evasion. Yukos has been hit with a demand for $3.4 billion in back taxes. The stock surge won't alter the trial's outcome. One Khodorkovsky attorney, Robert Amsterdam, predicted his client would be convicted. The company has set up a hotline...