Three executives at oil trader Coral Energy have bought out the company after acquiring the founder's remaining 40% stake in the firm, according to a source familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday.
Coral, founded by Tahir Garayev in 2010, has offices in Dubai, Singapore and aims to set up a subsidiary office in Switzerland.
The managers - CEO Talat Safarov, CFO Ahmed Kerimov and Anar Madatli - completed the purchase of Garayev's share earlier this year, a statement sent to the company's banks on Tuesday showed. The managers had already secured a 60% stake in 2023 before buying the remaining 40% share.
The final payment transfer will be made later this year but the shareholdings have already transferred, corporate documents seen by Reuters showed.
Safarov joined Coral in 2015 and Kerimov in 2017.
In February this year, Coral also hired Patrick Cotasson, previously at UniCredit bank in Geneva, as the head of structured finance and deputy CFO.
"Our management buyout marks the beginning of a new chapter for Coral Energy," Safarov said in the statement.
In 2021 to 2022, Coral Energy rose to become one of the major buyers of Russian oil and product, including from state-owned giant Rosneft (ROSN.MM). Russian oil accounted for about a quarter of Coral's traded volumes.
The new management said in the statement they suspended their Russian trading business in 2023 and had no activity with Russian counterparts in 2023 and 2024.
“We’re not planning to go back into Russian oil ... our priority is to diversify. Today we trade non-Russian fuel oil, gasoil, gasoline, naphtha, crude oil and petrochemicals. Our share of crude is relatively lower at less than 10%," Kerimov told Reuters in call.
Western powers have banned Russian oil imports but Russian crude and fuel can still be traded globally using Western services under a price cap scheme devised by the Group of Seven (G7) nations.
"By suspending its Russia activities, Coral Energy aims to align more closely with evolving regulatory frameworks and ensure adherence to the highest standards of ethical conduct," the statement said.
"Once counterparties, policymakers, and financial partners are comfortable with Coral’s process, the company may reenter the market with a new trading team."
The company had to significantly down-size after its exit from the Russian business and closed its Moscow office. It said some former employees continued to use the Coral name in their new business dealings.
"It took some time to detach our name from the former employees who were informally using the Coral name and contacting our customer base in Asia. However, we have now successfully eliminated these issues. We are confident that no one is using the Coral name or contacting our customers without authorization anymore," Kerimov said.
