All we know about QGEN comes from their own press release and 3-page website. Doing a bit more research, we see other "reflections" of QGEN and its "business" from information provided to, and subsequently published/used by, US government agencies, Tunisian government agencies, and US Federal courts.
The US Department of Commerce, a Cabinet department in the US government, publishes a yearly "Country Commercial Guide for U.S. Companies" for most of the countries in the world, including Tunisia [Link: US Department of Commerce: Doing Business In Tunisia]. An excerpt from the USDC's own description of the guide follows: "These Country Commercial Guides (CCGs) are prepared annually by U.S. embassies with the assistance of several U.S. government agencies. These reports present a comprehensive look at countries' commercial environments, using economic, political and market analysis..." [Link: US Department of State: Country Commercial Guides]
[Note: US embassies come under the jurisdiction of the US Department of State, which is also a Cabinet department in the US government. Also, links to the full guides are provided at the bottom of this blog post.]In the CCG for Tunisia, in the section of the guide titled "Electric Power Systems and Renewable Energy," the following reference to BTU Ventures and QGEN is found:
2009 Edition, published February 18, 2009: "The U.S. stake of 60% was subsequently sold to BTU Ventures, a private equity and project development firm registered in Boston with shareholders from Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain."
[Link: extract from page 21, 1st paragraph in "Overview" subsection]
2010 Edition, published February 17, 2010: "The U.S. stake of 60% was subsequently sold to QGEN (formerly known as BTU Ventures), a private equity and project development firm registered in Boston with shareholders from Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain."OBSERVATIONS
[Link: extract from page 22, 3rd paragraph in "Overview" subsection]
The quality of information that governmental entities make available in the public domain regarding a company's identity and activities is, for the most past, only as reliable as the source it comes from. Why has the US Embassy in Tunisia suddenly decided that BTU Ventures has become QGEN? This faulty information is not only communicated to the US Department of Commerce (and possibly the US Department of State) but also to the entire business world.
- As shown elsewhere in this blog, the Secretary of the Commonwealth (Massachusetts), Corporations Division has corporate records for BTU Ventures and QGEN that unequivocally show them to still be completely distinct entities.
- Moreover, there are no known press releases, filings, etc. that explicitly and affirmatively state that BTU Ventures is now QGEN.
- A simple check of the Carthage Power Company website still shows, in the section titled "Our Shareholders," that BTU Group is still joint owner together with Marubeni. [note: the hyperlink in the CPC webpage for BTU Group takes you to the BTU Ventures website]
It's pure CONJECTURE for ANYONE to reach the conclusion that BTU Ventures is now QGEN based on ANY available information whatsoever.
- However, it's not impossible that the US Department of Commerce (or more likely, the US Ambassador to Tunisia) decided, on their (his) own initiative, to make the whole thing up without having even one shred of information on which to base the change.
- Nevertheless, it's more likely that someone provided them (him) the erroneous information (un)intentionally.
ELMED Project
You'll see several references made to this project and its developers/promoters in the rest of this discussion. Given the complexity of the project it is a fairly high profile project in the electric power industry.
- The size: 1200 MW of generation with a submarine HVDC link from Tunisia to Italy (Sicily).
- Capital expenditures: 2.5 billion euros estimated ($3.75B at prevailing exchange rate as of the date of the estimate) [Link: Tunisia-Italy "ELMED," integrating Maghreb into European power market]
More details on the structure, process and requirements of the project are found in the US Department of Commerce 2010 Country Commercial Guide for Tunisia, extracts follow:
- The Tunisian government is set to launch a large new project with interesting prospects for U.S. companies: a joint Tunisian/Italian project named ELMED.
- It will consist of a 1200 MW power plant at Hawaria, with 800 MW exported to Italy.
- In June 2007, the GOT and the Italian Government designated the Italian company Terna and STEG as partners in a joint venture to implement the electrical interconnection via undersea cable, manage international transits of electricity on the grid and launch the tender to build the power plant.
- The call for expressions of interest in the IPP was released in September 2008, and 16 international companies, among them two from the United States, bid for the project.
Link: Terna: ELMED Project for Tunisia Press Release
Link: Norton Rose: Spotlight on the Tunisian Market
How This All Comes Together: The Tunisian Government
On October 6, 2008 The Tunisian government published a list of project developers/promoters that attended the ElMed project informational presentation. The attendant in this case was BTU from USA. [Link: ELMED Informational Meeting - October 6, 2008]
On October 28, 2008 the Tunisian government published a list of project developers/promoters that had responded to the call for expression of interest. The respondent in this case was QGEN from USA. [Link: ELMED Expression of Interest - October 28, 2008]
The above links provide you with "snapshots" taken on the referenced dates of the Tunisian government's web pages relevant to the ELMED Project. The link to the current pages is provided below. It's in French but Google or any other search engine can provide you with an acceptable translation of the text.
DISCUSSION
The Tunisian government held an informational meeting (October 6, 2008) for interested project developers and BTU showed up. Approximately three weeks later (October 28, 2008) the Tunisian government published a list of companies that had submitted expressions of interest and QGEN showed up.
I imagine that the Tunisian government must have been curious about this new company QGEN. As discussed in the section of this blog titled "What is QGEN," this is a question that has no answers and many answers at the same time - perplexing. But perhaps, if the Tunisian government were to call the US Ambassador to Tunisia or US Department of Commerce they'd could now be told a straight (but incorrect) answer: BTU Ventures has become QGEN.
What US FEDERAL Courts Have Been Told
If you look at the information and explanations that the plaintiffs [BTU Ventures, Inc. ("Ventures") and BTU Industries Holdings USA, Inc. ("Industries")] have submitted in the two lawsuits filed in US Federal court you'd come up with some interesting conclusions regarding the developers/promoters of the El Med project and the project itself. The following are some excerpts from the original Betancourt lawsuit, filed January 19, 2009.Paragraph 5. Ventures is an American subsidiary of BTU Holdings Limited, a Cayman Island company ("Holdings"). Holdings, through a series of affiliates in the Cayman Islands, the United States, and Middle Eastern countries ("BTU Affiliates"), maintains and operates investment funds which invest in power plants in Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. Ventures provides management and other professional services to Holdings and BTU Affiliates.
Paragraph 6. Industries is an American subsidiary of BTU Industries Holdings Limited, a Cayman Islands company. Industries assist Ventures in its work for Holdings and BTU Affiliates.
Paragraph 35. In particular Ventures and Industries are concerned that BTU affiliates' bidding position in projects including the $1.4B El Med Project - to export electricity from Tunisia to Italy via underground cable - will be compromised if Betancourt is able to disseminate confidential information with competing consortia. This would eliminate plaintiffs' "first-mover" advantage in the industry and jeopardize their current fund raising plans and good will.One more additional bit of information is provided in the Murphy lawsuit, filed January 7, 2010. The same plaintiffs state that
Paragraph 7. Industries now employs many former Ventures employees, including Murphy.COMMENTS
It's not immediately apparent that when plaintiffs refer to BTU Affiliates of Holdings they are speaking about the affiliates of BTU Holdings Limited (Caymans), the company that is at the center of the Hayat litigation in Massachusetts (not BTU Holdings USA, Inc. - the Massachusetts based company).
- Based on information provided elsewhere in this blog it's clear that the only affiliates of BTU Holdings that invested in power plants are BTU Power Company (Tunisia and Abu Dhabi) and BTU Power Company II (Asia).
- Obviously the line that states "...maintains and operates investment funds which invest in power plants in Asia..." couldn't refer to anything that exists anymore (as discussed elsewhere, Meiya Power Company was sold-off over 3 yrs. ago). The developer couldn't be BTU Power Company II.
- Industries (the Massachusetts-based company) seems to be taking over the role of BTU Ventures (if you are employing most of Venture's former employees it's safe to say that Ventures, a service company, probably isn't providing many services anymore.
- QGEN had already submitted an expression of interest for the ELMED project to the Tunisian authorities in late October 2008. However, in January 2009, the plaintiffs state that BTU affiliates - it could only mean that BTU Power Company - is the developer/promoter of ELMED.
QUESTION?
If BTU Industries Holdings USA Inc. is taking over the role of BTU Ventures and BTU Ventures has become QGEN and QGEN submitted the EOI to the Tunisian government but BTU Power Company is indirectly still identified as the developer of the ELMED project...who is who? and who is doing what?
Conclusion
I'm pretty sure that the US Ambassador to Tunisia, the US Department of Commerce, the US Federal courts, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and the Tunisian government will never have reason to, nor want to, compare notes about what QGEN is and its involvement in the ELMED project. If they did though, what could they possibly conclude? What could any objective observer conclude?
REFERENCES
Foreign exchange rates:
Full documents for "Doing Business in Tunisia: Country Commercial Guide for US Companies:
Foreign exchange rates:
2 comments:
Insider here,
Yes. BTU Ventures/BTU Power is QGEN with all the same employees and contractors including IT Patti & others of the BlueLanGroup whom replaced former IT Manager Mr. Murphy that was laid-off about 1 year ago.
Before Patti, Toad was hired and he quit quickly after dealing with Mr. Al-Mazeedi's crazy requests around the same time the General Couniel Jonathan Golden, formerly of Wilmerhale Law Firm (Laid-off)and Wael hired him since he felt bad,who left around the same time since he could not deal with Wael's bullshit.
You gotta love the office setup. It is a prison without bars. I'm awaiting my walking papers or when the police knock on the door. Whatever comes first.
Former Insider here.
As for "Why has the US Embassy in Tunisia suddenly decided that BTU Ventures has become QGEN? "
Around the time of the EL Med information meeting, a "delegation" from Waltham visited Tunisia and, among other calls, met with the Commercial Section at the embassy. The delegation presented itself as QGEN, with the appropriate business cards (ink still wet). The presentation included the "re-branding" of BTU as QGEN as a fait accompli.
On the same trip, meetings were held with STEG and the various Ministries to establish the BTU / QGEN link. Of note is that CPC and Marubeni (the minority owner of CPC) were expressly kept in the dark regarding the meetings and even the very existence of QGEN.
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