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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The WOG network of fuel stations is controlled by Ukrainian entrepreneurs who concentrated shares in the business after lengthy disputes over the co-founder's inheritance. The concentration of ownership determined the fate of the company, which owns more than 400 gas stations and holds a tenth of Ukraine's fuel market.
From oil trading to a national network of gas stations
As reported by the publication NaftoRynok, currently the key control over the WOG network of filling stations is concentrated in the hands of entrepreneur Serhiy Lahur and Svitlana Ivakhiv. The concentration of shares between the two business partners ended a long period of restructuring after the company was founded by the Continium business group.
In total, the fuel giant covers more than 400 filling complexes, dozens of oil depots, and holds about 10% of the entire retail oil product market in Ukraine. For drivers and business, this means that the stability of fuel supply and pricing at every tenth station in the country directly depends on internal decisions of two private owners.
The history of WOG began in 2000 year, when the Continium group opened its first gas station in Volyn. Its co-founders were Ihor Yeremeyev, Stepan Ivakhiv, Serhiy Lahur, and Petro Dyminsky, who started with wholesale raw materials trading.
Interesting! Later Petro Dyminsky gradually reduced his stake in the company, focusing on media and the Karpaty football club, and sold his share even before 2015 year. After the death of Ihor Yeremeyev in 2015 year, the business found itself on the brink of a large inheritance dispute.
Court battles over the offshore trust
The stake of the late Ihor Yeremeyev ended up inside a complex trust structure in the British Virgin Islands. A trust is a legal mechanism where property is transferred to a trustee to manage for the benefit of others, which often complicates direct access of real heirs to the money and management of the company.
As Tatiana Yeremyeva, the widow of the founder, told NBusiness in an interview, this trust was formed for a term of 360 years, through which the founder's children lost real influence over the company.
The beneficiaries of the trust have no influence on assets, company activity, or income from assets. By the way, there are no funds in the trust account at all — zero!
– Tatiana Yeremyeva, the founder's widow.
Although Continium Group assets were valued at 600–800 million dollars in court materials, the family of the deceased founder did not receive dividends. Later, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine approved the buyout of shares in the holding by partners, and Yeremyev's children left the list of official beneficiaries.
Who shapes the company's policy today
According to data from the analytical system YouControl, the company was split equally between Serhiy Lahur and Stepan Ivakhiv. Later, Ivakhiv's stake was transferred to his former wife Svitlana Ivakhiv, who now, together with Lahur, makes all strategic decisions.
Today WOG remains one of the three largest fuel importers in the country, while restructuring bank debt and optimizing the network by selling certain gas stations in regions.
By the way, we wrote that Uklon was founded by four Ukrainians: Dmytro Dubrovskyi, Viktoriya Dubrovska, Vitaliy Dyatlenko, and Serhiy Smus. Uklon began operating in Kyiv in 2010 year, and the preconditions for the service appeared several years earlier.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Мільйонні активи та траст на 360 років: хто насправді володіє мережею АЗС WOG". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
