(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Lim Hwa-seop = The American daily New York Times (NYT) reported on the 3rd (local time) that when U.S. government envoys went to Moscow last month to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in the Ukraine war, they discussed a deal to sell the overseas assets of Russian oil company Lukoil with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to a NYT report, when President Putin met Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's special envoy, and his eldest son-in-law Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin on the 5th of last month, they asked them to conclude a deal to sell Lukoil's overseas assets.
President Putin proposed striking a deal as a way to show Russians that Russia can do business with the United States.
In response, Kushner and Witkoff responded that they would pursue this based on the logic that doing so would build goodwill with the Kremlin and help lower global energy prices.
Lukoil is a Russian private oil company and the largest private company in Russia based on sales volume.
In October of last year, when the company was included in the sanctions list of the United States and Europe, it announced that it would sell overseas assets amid a decline in corporate value and contacted several potential investors, but the deal fell through.
Among the company's overseas assets are gas stations in the United States, oil refineries in Eastern Europe, and oil fields around the world.
The NYT said that Lukoil's overseas assets were for sale at a low price, explaining that this was because the value of these overseas assets to Russian investors was almost eliminated due to US sanctions, and evaluated it as "one of the most attractive opportunities in the global energy sector."
The person currently leading the investor group pursuing the acquisition of Lukoil's overseas assets is Todd Bolly, a billionaire asset manager and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers of the American Professional Baseball League (MLB).
In December last year, when negotiations for the Lukoil deal were in full swing, he donated $1 million (1.34 billion won) in political funds to Maga Incorporated, a political support group supporting President Trump.
Among the investors who joined hands with Bolly is International Holding Company (IHC), a large investment company in the Middle East. The company's board of directors is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, a member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Organizations separately run by Sheikh Tahnoon own about half of the shares of World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded by the Trump family and the Witkoff family.
In addition, the NYT suggested other business relationships and equity relationships, pointing out that many of the key figures among the investor group pursuing the acquisition of Lukoil's overseas assets have business relationships in various ways with Trump's children, the Witkoff family, and Kushner, President Trump's special envoy and eldest son-in-law.
Although the Trump family and the Witkov family do not have a direct financial stake in the Lukoil overseas asset transaction being promoted, their business partners will benefit if the transaction is completed.
It is known that at least two attempts to sell Lukoil's overseas assets were either canceled or made no progress after significant progress had been made.
Such a deal would require approval from both the Russian and U.S. governments in addition to an agreement between Lukoil and the buyer.
At the end of October last year, the Swiss company Gunbor announced that it had reached an acquisition agreement, but withdrew the acquisition proposal after encountering public opposition from the U.S. Treasury in early November, just one week later.
In January of this year, it was reported that a provisional, non-exclusive agreement had been reached for Lukoil to sell some of its overseas assets to the U.S. investment company Carlyle, but it was reported that no progress had been made due to the approval process not proceeding.
The NYT pointed out that if the transaction to acquire Lukoil's overseas assets, which Boly is pursuing, is approved, Carlyle, which had been competing for the acquisition, will be eliminated.
The NYT pointed out, "If Carlisle's proposal is adopted (after the sale of Lukoil's overseas assets), the owners will be entirely American. However, Carlyle (unlike Boley) does not have similar financial ties to President Trump's family or political advisors."
