Russian Business Magnate Mikhail Fridman Quotes

Motivational  quotes collection by business executive and co-founder of Alfa-Group Mikhail Fridman.

• There’s always a chance.
• This can all be discussed, we’re open to this
• We made several efforts to start dialog with the board but they were cut off sharply
• So we made them another offer, which is for us less attractive, but nonetheless we believed that this situation needed to be resolved somehow.
• We sent this offer to BP but all we got was a brief response that it didn’t interest them. No counterproposal.
• The main problem we have is that we don’t have a dialog with BP management on any of the difficult issues that TNK-BP and our relationship are facing.
• As soon as the new board member is appointed, TNK-BP management will ask the Board to approve a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against BP
• Our impression was that BP shareholders understood our concerns and recognized the need to begin a constructive dialogue.
• We don’t make dumb investments; buying a minority stake in a large public company isn’t a very effective way to influence management.
• As of today, we’ve had no contacts with anyone on this.
• But we’ve have no approaches yet which leads us to the conclusion that there’s no serious interest from anyone credible.
• They’re under pressure on several fronts, in the U.S., Argentina, India, and here in Russia. They’re trying to buy time, to reassure investors by saying ‘don’t worry, we have offers.
• For us the most preferable option would be to sell AAR’s stake for cash and BP shares over an extended period – say, 5-7 years – gradually, but with the terms spelled out up front.
• Our message to investors was that if they expect a check for $25 billion to $30 billion to show up at BP [for its interest in TNK-BP], they have been badly misled by BP management.
• We doubt it has any basis in fact. Our understanding is that among Russian companies, not one has conducted any serious negotiations with BP and no one intends to.