The West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris has told the boss of Voi he needs to end the company’s links to Russian oligarchs or face losing the contract for Bristol and Bath later this year.
Mr Norris said if the company still had Gabriel Yushevaev and Alexander Eliseev as shareholders of the Swedish e-scooter hire company by the time the trial period ends in Bristol in October this year, that would impact his decision on whether or not to continue to allow Voi to operate.
The boss and founder of Voi, Fredrk Hjelm came to Bristol today (Monday, April 11) for talks with Mr Norris over the issue, and later told a press conference he was doing all he could to get them to part with their shares.
Read more: Love them or hate them - e-scooters are changing Bristol
Reports across Europe and in the US have named Eliseev as someone who owns around £10.8 million worth of shares in Voi, while at the same time being a businessman who founded a major firm that is also part-owned by the Russian state. And multi-billionaire Yushevaev owns a bigger, 2.9 per cent stake in Voi.
In total, the pair own 3.9 per cent of the e-scooter hire company. Neither of them have yet been named as being on any nation’s list of ‘sanctioned’ Russian oligarchs, although reports in New York suggest one could be on a US list of Russian oligarchs and businessmen who face the potential of having their assets frozen or being sanctioned in another way soon.
Mr Hjelm visited Bristol as part of a tour of the UK cities where Voi is running its e-scooter scheme, and said he had a full and frank discussion with Mr Norris over the issue. He said the two Russian businessmen bought shares in Voi a few years ago, before the Putin regime invaded Ukraine in February this year.
He said that while he would prefer it for the two Russian businessmen to sell their stakes, he couldn’t force them to under Swedish law - unless, ironically enough, they were formally sanctioned by the Swedish authorities. So the chief executive of Voi said he is left with a situation where, because Voi shares aren’t traded publicly and don’t have a market value on the open stock exchange, there is a difference between the amount anyone is prepared to pay the Russians for their shares in the company, and the amount those two Russians will accept to get out of Voi.
This, said Mr Hjelm at a press conference called by the West of England metro-mayor at the Grand Hotel in Bristol, was currently the ‘subject of negotiation’. Mr Hjelm also outlined the work his company had done to donate money, and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and refugees, and also the steps the company had taken to get itself out of any dealings in or with Russia.
But the two minor shareholders with links to the Russian regime remained, and he would be trying ‘all that I can’ to end that relationship, he said. Mr Norris said he welcomed Mr Hjelm’s frankness and openness about the situation, but warned him that it might make a difference when he came to assess the pilot scheme this autumn.
Voi was the company chosen by local councils in Bristol and Bath to run this region’s version of a national Government pilot scheme to see if e-scooters were safe and practical in cities. That began in October 2020, and has been extended twice because of the pandemic. Mr Norris will make the ultimate decision about whether or not he wants the e-scooter hire scheme to continue after this autumn, and told Mr Hjelm that ‘other e-scooter hire companies are out there’.
“I want him to distance himself from that,” said Mr Norris. “I’m deeply concerned about this situation. If we get to the end of the trial and this has not been resolved, then i’ve got a tough decision to make. The sooner they leave the better, and are nothing to do with Voi and then they are nothing to do with the West of England.
“I’ve been very clear that this is significant to me and will affect my thinking. I still have question marks personally about this,” he added.
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