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Last year the company came into the focus of politics and the media primarily due to the deals it struck with Hungarian Electricity Ltd. However, now you gave in, and you are going to reveal more about the group and the ultimate owners, as well.
We were not ready, we were busy with business. We made a conscious decision not to make any statements during the elections in April. We are a professional company and we keep our distance from politics. It is not the contracts with MVM that are interesting anyway, but our real story. I only wanted to reveal that in a few years, when we are already considered as a significant energy trading company in Europe. However, life moved this forward. You are the largest owner as a private individual in the company with How did you manage to achieve this?
In I purchased a further 4. This does not sound like a huge secret. Why were we not allowed to see this clearly? Absolutely, this was not a huge secret, since hundreds of our partners were aware of this. But it benefitted us greatly in the past seven years that we could work without receiving much publicity. Once, I was in London when someone from the energy sector told me that we must be doing something very well if we are such a big company and he has never heard about us before.
But meanwhile Hungarian politics started a fight against those non-transparent companies taking part in public procurement who signed a contract with the state.
In this context the demand of the citizens to know the ultimate owners of the companies who sign a contract with the state is justified. I refuse the claim that MET is not transparent. Our operations are transparent and in line with the strictest standards.
Everyone needs to understand that there are business secrets in a competitive world. We will not reveal more than we are obliged to by the law.
We will not reveal more than our competitors reveal about their operations and contracts either. Otherwise we would be in a competitive disadvantage. What is your role? I always say that I have two and a half children. Two at home, and MET is the half. Lately this half child has been more problematic that the two at home.
I was in the right place at the right time, and I was lucky. In around — trading and owning physical assets was not separated yet on the European gas market.
Generally, each country had a huge gas company which owned the storage facilities, the pipes and the trade. But actually I was not involved with gas trading, I had a financial background. My thoughts were not revolving around gas supply, but around options, prices and exchange rates. Suddenly the entry limit in gas trading was decreased from 1 billion to 1 EUR.
In the rules traders were separated from the owners of huge infrastructures. Only around a hundred top managers on the gas market understood what was going on. I was one of the youngest among those. There are four factors in gas trading: People are the most important.
I am very proud of the MET team: We assembled it step by step, and we participated in numerous trainings. We paid bonuses based on performance to our employees. High bonuses, compared to others. This was not possible at large energy companies.
After a year of preparation we separated from MOL in terms of daily operation, but fortunately we remained under the ownership of the company, which meant a huge advantage, particularly in the beginning.
Because it had our risk outside the scope of consolidation. We made it clear to everybody that MOL will not take responsibility for us. We needed another liquid owner who would provide financing, though. In the end we received 15 million EUR from the two owners.
Yes, this company was suggested by MOL. We, I mean the management wanted to receive some shares; we fought for this for years. Then Normeston contrary to its earlier promises could not provide a Russian gas source, so it sold its shares to RP Explorer Fund.
How about the payment of the purchase price? Are you still paying the instalments? How much is MET Group worth, what do you think? Just to see where you would stand on the list of the wealthiest people. Although the revenues are high, profit margins are low. We are like a bank that changes currency. In the seven years since our company was formed we made a profit of approximately million EUR, the half of which is still in the company.
Are you the only owner in the management? Why did the others not buy any shares? I am not the sole owner. I am looking forward to let those fellow managers become owners, who generate such added value that they practically force me to make them owners. The name of my other company is Deneb Algedi. It was named after a star. I greatly admired my grandfather, who was an engineer and an astrologer. He often held classes in his flat. He told me about this star. Deneb Algedi is the Arabic name of the last star of the Capricornus constellation, the Latin name of which is probably more well-known.
You are by far the largest of the owners. Did you play such an important role at the company? The idea was mine, and I was the one who fought the first battles, but the rest was teamwork. We worked hundred hours each week. Previously, I only saw such a corporate culture at the Paks nuclear plant, where the families were talking about the company even at dinner.
In the first five years the company would have collapsed without me, but now we are at a point that in half a year they will be able to replace me. Today we are a major company, our financing is on a par with the countries of the region, our risk management is outstanding, and we have operating trading floors in Switzerland and in London.
Our biggest competitive advantage is that we have well-integrated, almost real-time systems. If a salesmen signs a deal with a large consumer, the colleagues responsible for logistics, storage, trading and currency trading also receive this information. Signing a gas contract has several other consequences, as well. We have maintained the great relationship. Normeston is a major company; I hope that we will have the opportunity to do business with them again, for example in the London oil trading.
Is this company linked to Lukoil? You are revealing more details about the owners of Normeston, but it is known that currently one of the ultimate owners of MET is a Russian private individual, Ilya Trubnikov. That name does not sound familiar to me. He is a year-old Russian-Canadian citizen, who is well-known in the sector, and whose story is similar to ours. Before the crisis, in , he sold the company to one of the largest gas pipeline technology companies, the Texas-based Weatherford.
He made a nice sum of money on this, I guess. Since then he has been dealing with real estate and stock exchange investments. In what degree is Mr. Ilya Trubnikov linked to the Russian state or one of the large Russian oil or gas companies? It is very important that our owners do not participate in the operations of the company. We do not have any actual connections with Mr. Trubnikov and the other owners. At least for the time being. If they did not pay any dividends, I guess we would hear from them.
What is their role in the story of MET? They did not contribute to the rise of MET, that is our success, but their trust was very helpful for us, since their money was essential.
They did not contribute to the professional aspect of the company, they only provided financial support. My question did not concern the degree they are familiar with the gas industry.