Family entrepreneur Ulrich Bettermann: “I don’t understand Putin”

Dusseldorf In the Ukraine crisis, family entrepreneur Ulrich Bettermann is concerned about energy security in Europe. “We have to make sure that we become gas-independent. If it doesn’t work at all, then you would have to switch to oil,” says the 75-year-old in an interview with the Handelsblatt. Germany made the mistake of not having its own reserves and not operating the gas storage facilities itself.

His company OBO Bettermann produces fastening material and cable trays, for example, and is active in both Russia and the Ukraine. In its own company, Bettermann has already converted a galvanizing plant to liquid gas from Qatar. He accepts the costs. “We’re only concerned with production security, not with profit,” he says.

In Lipetsk, Russia, 450 kilometers south of Moscow, OBO has a plant with around 450 employees. According to its own statements, the medium-sized company generates around five percent of its annual turnover of 800 million euros in Russia. Bettermann himself has met Waldimir Putin several times. However, the entrepreneur has no understanding for the actions of the Russian President, as he emphasizes. Own projects, such as for a large galvanizing plant, are on hold.

The entrepreneur became known because he had Mikhail Khodorkovsky fly to Berlin in one of his company planes in 2013. In addition, OBO operates a large production facility in Hungary. Bettermann sees himself as a friend of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is currently facing EU proceedings for violations of the rule of law. In the meantime, 1,420 OBO employees work in Hungary, more than in Menden.

Read the full interview here:

Mr. Bettermann, did you read Vladimir Putin’s speech verbatim on Monday?
Yes, and I heard some of them live. When you consider that Donald Trump praised him, think his part.

You have met the Russian President several times. How do you rate him?
I do not understand him. At the time, the OSCE was talking about NATO staying where it was. But the Baltic states and Poland wanted to join NATO. The Hungarians too. The Russian population is already aware of how prosperity is developing in other countries with democratic governments.

As an entrepreneur, you have to deal primarily with energy issues. What scenarios do you anticipate?
We have to see that we become gas independent. If it doesn’t work at all, then you would have to switch to oil. There is no electricity in this country, we simply lack energy. It’s different in France because of the nuclear power plants.

Weeks ago, you developed an emergency plan in case the Russian gas tap is turned off in Germany. You now have contracts for the supply of LPG from Qatar?
Yes, the plan was even brought forward. This week we successfully heated the galvanizing plant in Menden with liquid gas from Qatar for the first time. We wanted to do it as soon as possible. Everything worked out, we had simply been afraid for a long time that there would be gas cutoffs. That would be a disaster. We still have the option of switching to oil, but that will take four weeks.

At the moment the gas from Russia is still flowing…
Yes, but no one knows what it will look like when there really is a war.

So you are currently buying less gas from Russia?
We take a little less gas from the public utility company so that we can use the liquid gas. We are taking a two-pronged approach: We secure ourselves with the liquid gas supplier so that if the Russian gas runs out completely, we can work 100 percent and, which is just as important, also be supplied. That is a big problem. One must not make oneself dependent on important public goods such as energy. We used to have a national reserve of oil in the 50’s and 60’s. It is wrong that our gas storage facilities do not belong to the federal government.

Can you feed in the liquid gas that easily?
We have to adjust the nozzles a bit differently, we can do that on the laptop, the liquid gas has a much higher calorific value than the gas that comes from Russia.

What other measures are you taking to secure energy?
We want to make ourselves independent of gas to heat our production halls. In Hungary we already do 70 percent of this with wood chips, here in Menden we are just starting with it.

But you can’t run a galvanizing plant with wood chips?
No, you need gas, oil or electricity.

>> Read here: North Stream 2 must not go into operation for the time being. What if a line were to fail in the Ukraine as well? An overview of the gas supply lines

They wanted to start building a large galvanizing plant in Russia in the spring. How do you react now?
The machines for this have already been bought, but the implementation of the plans is currently on hold because I don’t know what sanctions will hit us.

What sanctions would you take?
I believe that the sanctions must be designed in such a way that they hit the politicians and not the poor people in Russia. We hope that we can continue working in Lipetsk.

What if Swift were terminated?
Then the Russian company would have to work independently, but could not buy raw materials in the world because it could not pay for them. In Iran we had to sell our daughter when Swift was fired, but it was just logistics and sales back then. If Swift were to exclude Russia, it would be catastrophic for our plant in Russia. And that could mean the end.

Hasn’t Russia become much more self-sufficient?
Yes, that’s right.

At the end of last year, energy prices had already risen significantly, they are currently lower, but have already risen by eight percent. What are you expecting?
That’s reading tea leaves, but former Prime Minister Medvedev has already threatened other prices in the event of sanctions.

Russia projects are on hold

Isn’t LPG more expensive than natural gas?
Yes, but more productive. We are only concerned with production security, not with profit.

Which projects are you currently on hold?
We wanted to move part of our production from Hungary to Russia because wages there are a third lower. We postponed that for now.

You are friends with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Do you think he would also agree to more far-reaching sanctions from the EU?
Yes, he sat with Putin for five hours. They haven’t gotten an inch closer, but he has signed a gas contract with Russia. In Hungary, the state takes care of the energy supply.

You believe that Mr. Orban fully supports all sanctions?
Definitely, otherwise he could give up the election.

You yourself employ 450 people in Russia, what do they think?
In Russia, no middle class has yet established itself that obtains more international information than in the surrounding countries. There are already people in Russia who say that Russia would be a richer country if it hadn’t put so much money into weapons. But it’s not such a big issue with our employees.

Last week you were still hoping that the negotiations would end well, how do you see that today?
I haven’t given up hope that things will go well. I saw the Cold War from beginning to end and didn’t think we’d have to deal with it again.

Mr. Bettermann, thank you very much for the interview.

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