Amic Energy

Amic Energy Management GmbH was founded in 2013. It started as an investment company looking for low-cost and problematic assets for further restructuring.[4] One of the company's strategic goals was to invest in undervalued assets in Central and Eastern Europe,[5] particularly in the energy infrastructure sector.[4] Initially, the company considered investing in power plants in Romania and Bulgaria, as well as other projects in Poland.[4] However, when Lukoil announced the sale of its assets in Eastern Europe in 2014, Amic Energy became interested in the possibility of acquiring a filling station network in Ukraine.[4] When Lukoil's management commented on its plans to sell in July 2014, it said that it wanted to focus on Russian projects, as Western sanctions on Russia made it difficult for the company to access capital.[6] Since 2014, Lukoil has sold assets in the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary. For example, Lukoil's assets in the Czech Republic were bought by the Hungarian MOL Group,[7] in Hungary and Slovakia by the Hungarian company Norm Benzinkút Kft,[8] in Estonia by the local network Olerex.[9]

The main agreement between Amic Energy and Lukoil to purchase all the shares of Lukoil-Ukraine, which owned about 240 petrol stations and 6 oil depots in Ukraine, was announced in July 2014.[10] At that time, Lukoil controlled 6% of the retail market in Ukraine, behind the petrol station networks of Privat group, WOG, and OKKO companies.[11] The total value of the deal was estimated at US$280 million (€256.5 million).[12][13] In April 2015, the Anti-Monopoly Committee of Ukraine approved the company Amic Energy Management GmbH (Vienna, Austria) to take control of Lukoil-Ukraine CFI (Kyiv).[14][15] In May 2015, Lukoil-Ukraine CFI changed its name to Amic Ukraine CFI, and the company's petrol stations began to change their names.[16][17]

In February 2016, Amic Energy, together with AS Viada Baltija (Latvia) and UAB Luktarna (Lithuania), entered into an agreement with Lukoil Europe Holdings BV to acquire a network of approximately 230 petrol stations in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland (UAB Lukoil Baltija in Lithuania, SIA Lukoil Baltija R in Latvia, and Lukoil Polska sp. z o.o. in Poland).[18] Lukoil's management justified the company's plans to sell assets in Latvia and Lithuania with the anti-Russian sentiment in these countries.[19] The completion of the acquisition was announced in April 2016.[18][20] AS Viada Baltija and UAB Luktarna took over the retail networks in Latvia and Lithuania, respectively, as part of the deal.[21] In 2018, Amic Polska began rebranding its petrol stations in Poland to the Amic Energy brand.[22] The rebranding was completed in July 2019.[23] In October 2019, Amic Energy acquired two petrol stations in Cieszyn from BP, bringing the company's total number of petrol stations in Poland to 116.[24]

In the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when Russian troops crossed the Antonivskyi Bridge in Kherson, two Amic Ukraine petrol stations located near the bridge were destroyed.[12][25][26] Additionally, as of February 6, 2023, 36 petrol stations of Amic Ukraine were damaged, looted, or destroyed by the aggressor, and 19 others are still in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.[27] The company's oil depot near Borodianka (Kyiv region) was also destroyed. As of April 2023, the company estimated that €20 million worth of the company's assets (gas stations, oil depot, and fuel) were damaged due to hostilities.[28]

According to the company, as of February 2023, Amic Ukraine supplied over 275,000 liters of fuel free of charge to units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Security Service, the National Police, the State Border Guard Service, military administrations and territorial communities of various regions. The company also supplied aviation fuel for the Defense Forces of Ukraine.[29][27] Besides, the company also donated military clothing sets, body armor, thermal imagers, secure tablets, quadcopters, binoculars, Motorola radio control systems, KVS Antidron-G6 UAVs, etc., to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.[27]

In January 2023, Amic Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia with the ECHR. In the lawsuit, the company claimed hostile actions against the civilian population of Ukraine, its sovereign territory, Amic Energy employees, and the company as a whole that demonstrate Russia's gross violation of Article 1 of Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the right to peaceful possession of property. In particular, after the illegal seizure of certain territories of Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine by Russian troops, the property of Amic Ukraine was seized, looted, and in some cases destroyed by the Russian army and the occupation authorities controlled by the terrorist country. The preliminary amount of damages claimed in the lawsuit is over ₴300 million (€8.5 million).[27] In April 2023, the ECHR opened proceedings on the claim of Amic Ukraine against Russia. The case is entitled "Company with foreign investments Amic Ukraine v. Russia".[30]

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Amic Energy did not stop its operations and continued to provide fuel not only to the country's critical infrastructure but also to consumers at gas stations.[29] In November 2022, Amic Ukraine and the Razom for Ukraine charitable foundation joined forces to deliver humanitarian supplies to the Armed Forces of Ukraine as part of the Razom with Amic initiative. As of December 2022, Amic Energy has handed over 20 fuel cards for more than 20 thousand liters of fuel to the foundation's drivers, which is worth more than ₴1 million (€25,000).[31]

In December 2022, Amic Ukraine launched the Invincible Coffee charity campaign, under which two hryvnias from each cup of coffee, tea, and other hot drinks sold at gas stations will be donated to restore Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions. The company's goal is to use the funds raised to rebuild schools, hospitals, and other socially important facilities that were damaged or destroyed by the aggressor country during the military invasion in these regions.[32][33]

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Amic Polska refueled humanitarian vehicles and buses with refugees at its gas stations free of charge and supplied fuel to the Caritas charity organization, which transported humanitarian aid to the Polish-Ukrainian border on a daily basis. The company also provided necessities for refugees free of charge. The Polish company has launched a program for the Drivers' Club members who possess the appropriate Amic Polska card, wherein they can choose to convert the loyalty program points they have accumulated into zlotys and donate them to charity funds. The company matched the contributions by doubling them at its own expense.[34]

Following the announcement of the agreement to sell Lukoil-Ukraine CFI to Amic Energy in 2014, some commentators suggested that the real owner of the network in fact remained Lukoil, which was doing so to protect its Ukrainian assets from possible sanctions.[46][47] The media also drew attention to the fact that the Amic Energy company was only registered in Austria in 2013 and that Amic Energy's authorized capital at the time of its foundation was only €35,000,[11][48][49] which journalists believed could indicate that it was a shell company.[50] In response to these allegations, Günter Maier, CEO of Amic Energy, stated at a press conference in Kyiv in September 2014 that the purchase was not fictitious and was not being carried out in the interests of Lukoil or Lukoil shareholders: "I can confirm that the assets are being acquired only in the interests of three Amic shareholders and at their own expense."[51]

Similarly, following Amic Energy's 2016 acquisition of the Lukoil petrol station network in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, the Polish newspaper Puls Biznesu claimed that "the same Lukoil is hiding under the new brand, which thus wants to circumvent the boycott of European consumers who do not want to buy petrol from the Russians".[18] In February 2022, Amic Polska declared that its "network of 116 Polish Amic Energy petrol stations is not linked by capital to the Lukoil company or other business organizations of the Russian Federation".[38] In response to similar concerns in Lithuania, in March 2016 UAB Amic Lietuva submitted the conclusion by the Republic of Lithuania's Commission for assessment of conformity of potential participants to national security interests, which certified that the agreement between Amic Energy and Lukoil is in the interest of Lithuania's national security.[52]

In August 2022, the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine (ESBU) announced the initiation of the seizure of 308 assets of the Amic Ukraine CFI network, totaling over ₴50 million (€1.3 million) in corporate rights. In particular, the ESBU accused the company of tax evasion and maintaining links with Russia.[53][54] Amic Energy responded by calling both accusations "unfounded and baseless" and claimed that ESBU's actions were evidence of "deliberate illegal pressure on a foreign investor".[35][55] Günter Maier, the ultimate beneficial owner and managing director of Amic Energy, denied all allegations against the company at a press conference in Kyiv in September 2022. He announced that Amic Ukraine had appealed to the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision on the seizure of assets in Ukraine and would defend its rights at the national level and turn to international institutions if necessary.[56] The Austrian Ambassador to Ukraine, Arad Benkö, called on the Ukrainian authorities to take proportionate measures that do not hinder business as long as no guilt is proven and stated that the Austrian embassy would closely follow the investigation.[56]