Bristol e-scooter scheme may be shelved over firm’s Russian investors
An e-scooter scheme in Bristol may be pulled because the company that operates it has investors with “dubious” ties to Russia.
The West of England mayor Dan Norris met the chief executive of £1bn-valued Swedish firm Voi Technology this week, as he vowed to ensure the region is “not linked” with Moscow.
Norris said “Voi has got a difficult call to make”, because the Stockholm-based tech firm still has two key Russian shareholders, who own millions of pounds of stock.
Saying he wants “minimum links” with the Kremlin, Norris said he accept “it is difficult to have zero involvement” but it was important to address the “dubious links wherever they are.”
When asked for a comment, the firm directed City PM to a blog posted on its website last month. Hjelm admitted it has “two current shareholders linked to Russia who together own around 4 percent of the company.”
He commented that they had been asked to “temporarily transfer their voting rights to me” while adding that in early March, Voi “ took the decision to cease all business activities in Russia and Belarus.”
It said it is selling the investors’ shares as quickly as practically possible, and has removed elements of its supply chain from Moscow, while banning the sale of our refurbished vehicles there too.