Latest news with #AraniSoosaipillai
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Lindsey Oil Refinery owners urged to financially support workers
The Energy Minister has written to the owners of the ill-fated Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery calling on them to "do the decent thing" and financially support affected workers after the company filed for a letter to Prax Group owners Sanjeev and Arani Soosaipillai, Michael Shanks said they had a responsibility to staff and the government was "urgently exploring what support can be offered to the workforce at this difficult time".At least 420 jobs are at risk at the refinery in North East Lincolnshire, with 120 HGV drivers made redundant from the company's main delivery firm on said the liquidator was "urgently assessing whether a sale of the refinery is possible". According to Unite the Union, 1,000 jobs could be affected when taking into account contractors and the supply chain, after Prax Group fell into administration at the end of Monday, administrator Teneo said a few of the 137 employees who had been made redundant at delivery firm Axis Logistics would be kept on "for a limited period to support the orderly closure of the business" after it "suffered" as a result of the wider group the letter, Shanks said the official receiver's assessment would be "difficult given the state the business had been left in"."Rightly, urgent questions are now being raised about what support will be offered to them by yourselves, as the owners," he said. The minister revealed that in a letter from the owners on 30 June workers were told they were "the lifeblood of Prax, sustaining the business through its many successes" and their "loyalty, resilience and hard work" had helped build their wrote: "We strongly encourage you to do the decent thing and publicly commit to make a voluntary financial contribution to support workers at PLOR [Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery]. "This could be through direct financial support to them or funding for retraining schemes to ensure that they can pursue new job opportunities if the refinery cannot be sold."He told the couple to engage with the workforce in considering options."A public show of support for the workers from yourselves would go some way to demonstrate your regret over the insolvency of PLOR and the core values of responsible business ownership."It is the very least they deserve," he Group bought the refinery from French company Total in 2021. The company's financial reports indicated the plant recorded losses of about £75m between the takeover and February Official Receiver is ensuring continued safe operations at the site, the government previously Group and its administrators have been contacted for comment. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Prax Lindsey oil refinery owners urged to ‘do decent thing' for workers
The UK government has written to the husband-and-wife team behind the stricken Prax Lindsey oil refinery in Lincolnshire urging them to 'do the decent thing' and support affected workers financially, amid mounting concern that finding a buyer for the plant will be difficult. In a letter to the Prax Group owners, Arani and Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai, seen by the Guardian, the junior energy minister Michael Shanks said the government was 'urgently exploring what support can be offered to the workforce at this difficult time'. He added: 'However, we strongly encourage you to do the decent thing and publicly commit to make a voluntary financial contribution to support workers at [Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery]. 'This could be through direct financial support to them or funding for retraining schemes to ensure that they can pursue new job opportunities if the refinery cannot be sold.' More than 100 fuel tanker drivers were told on Monday they had lost their jobs. Further job losses are expected to follow at the affected divisions of Prax Group, which employed 625 people. The Soosaipillais have taken about £11.5m in pay and dividends out of the company since buying the refinery in 2021, a Guardian analysis suggests. According to a source close to the company, the couple left the UK for Dubai last week as the plant plunged into insolvency. Several potential buyers expressed tentative interest in the site – one of only five oil refineries left in the UK after the closure of Grangemouth earlier this year – in the immediate aftermath of the debt-laden company's sudden implosion, according to well-placed sources. However, Shanks's letter to the Soosaipillais appeared to cast some doubt on the likelihood that a buyer can be found for the business, which reportedly owed £250m to HM Revenue and Customs when it failed. 'While the official receiver is urgently assessing whether a sale of the refinery is possible, this will be difficult given the state the business has been left in,' Shanks said. The official receiver, a government employee managing the insolvency, has set a deadline of about two weeks to identify a white knight investor to rescue the plant, Sky News reported on Tuesday. Last week's failure of Prax Lindsey prompted anger from ministers in the energy department, who were aware of the company's parlous financial position but had been assured by the Soosaipillais that its survival was not at stake. Multiple sources said that Prax Group, which also owns oilfield investments in Shetland and petrol stations, had got into difficulty after racking up massive debts to fund ambitious acquisitions, including the $167m purchase of Lindsey from Total in 2021. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion The refinery is continuing to operate after the government agreed to buy fuel from Lindsey's supplier, the global commodities trading house Glencore. A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero played down concerns about fuel supplies, after reports that petrol stations in Lincolnshire, close to the refinery, had run out of fuel. 'Deliveries from the Prax Lindsey oil refinery have resumed,' the spokesperson said. 'The official receiver is ensuring continued safe operations at the site, while options, including a potential sale, are explored. 'The UK is well supplied with fuel – the site is right next door to one of the biggest and most efficient refineries in the country, and stock levels are normal across the UK. 'Our sympathies are with workers, who have been made redundant by Axis Logistics Ltd, part of the Prax Group. These workers are in high demand and we will work to ensure their onward employment.' The Guardian has approached a representative of the Soosaipillais for comment.
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Owners of collapsed oil refinery Prax Lindsey took £11.5m in pay and dividends
The married couple behind the Prax Lindsey oil refinery awarded themselves at least $15.9m (£11.5m) in pay and dividends in the years leading up to its collapse, it has emerged, as the government urged the company's boss to 'put his hand in his pockets' to help workers. Winston Soosaipillai, who goes by his middle names Sanjeev Kumar, jointly owned the refinery with his wife, Arani, until it plunged into insolvency on Monday. The failure of the refinery, which is one of only five left in the UK, has put 625 workers at risk and raised fears about disruption to supplies of customers such as petrol retailers and Heathrow airport. The sudden demise of the company, which Westminster sources said had assured ministers of its health just weeks ago, prompted the government to order an investigation into 'the conduct of the directors'. Sanjeev Kumar Soosaipillai is the sole director of both the refinery operation and its parent company, according to the latest available filings from Companies House. The scale of rewards on offer to Soosaipillai and his wife, who is the group's human resources director, are revealed in a series of annual reports and Companies House filings. The group paid a dividend of $5.2m to its shareholders in 2024, on top of a $2.1m payment in 2022, the documents show. The Soosaipillais own 80% of the group directly and 20% via family trusts, indicating that they have extracted $7.3m in dividends since buying the plant from French oil company Total in 2021. Pay disclosures also reveal the sums paid to the group's highest-paid director, understood to be Soosaipillai, given that he is the only director. The pay deals were worth a combined $8.5m between 2022 and 2024, the only years for which accounts have been filed. In total, the Soosaipillais appear to have handed themselves £11.5m in pay and dividends since buying the refinery in 2021. Details of the payouts emerged after Mark Shanks, a junior minister in the energy department, called for Soosaipillai to help fund compensation for some of the 625 workers affected by the collapse. Speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, Shanks said that the government 'expect[s] the owners to put their hands in their pockets and provide the support that those workers deserve'. The division that houses the facility, Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery Ltd, has lost £109m over the same period, although this is not uncommon in large oil and gas operations, whose trading divisions often make up the difference. Accounts also show that Prax was forced to revise the accounting treatment of one proposed dividend payment, after discovering it did not have enough cash to fund the payout. During 2023, the Prax Group holding company declared and paid a dividend of $4.98m to its shareholders, the Soosaipillais. These were paid 'in good faith', according to filings at Companies House, but the company later discovered that the payout 'exceeded the available level of distributable reserves'. The sum was reclassified as an amount owed to the group by 'related parties'. After the year end, a new dividend was declared, which accounts said would be satisfied by releasing the parent company from its obligation to repay sums already transferred. The Guardian approached representatives of Prax, including one who has previously answered questions on behalf of the Soosaipillais, for comment.
Telegraph
01-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Couple behind doomed oil refinery paid £3.7m dividend before collapse
The couple behind a collapsed refinery paid themselves a $5m (£3.65m) dividend from their oil empire last year despite the company posting almost $30m worth of losses. Sanjeev Kumar and Arani Soosaipillai were handed the money as owners of Prax Group, the company behind the Lindsey Oil Refinery, in Lincolnshire. The refinery collapsed on Monday, with the Government's Insolvency Service forced to step in to maintain continued operations. The dividend was paid at group level, rather than by the immediate refinery business. The group made a loss of $28.6m in 2024, with bosses admitting operations had been 'challenging'. The payout is likely to be the subject of scrutiny as ministers seek answers about how a key part of Britain's energy infrastructure was allowed to collapse. Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, wrote to the Insolvency Service on Monday to 'demand an immediate investigation into the conduct of the directors, and the circumstances surrounding this insolvency'. Michael Shanks, the energy minister, also made a direct appeal to Prax's owners. He said: 'The Government believes that the business's leadership have a responsibility to the workers and the local community. We call on them to do the right thing and support the workers through this difficult period.' Debt-fuelled deals Inquiries will thrust the husband-and-wife duo behind Lindsey into the spotlight. Mr and Mrs Soosaipillai launched Prax from a flat in Weybridge 26 years ago after both studying accountancy at Kent University. They have grown it into a sprawling $10bn conglomerate that operates around the world. Having originally started operations by acquiring petrol stations, Prax later expanded the business by moving into oil storage terminals. A spree of debt-fuelled deals followed, including the takeover of UK fuel supplier Harvest Energy in 2015. Prax acquired the Lindsey Oil Refinery from France's Total in 2021. Sanjeev remains chairman and chief executive of the Prax business, while Mrs Soosaipillai is the chief human resources officer. Company filings list the pair as ultimate owners of the business, each with a 40pc stake. The remaining 20pc is held in trusts, of which they are both trustees. Neither Mr or Mrs Soosaipillai have conducted any media interviews and information about them is limited to small official biographies on the Prax website. While little is known of the pair, it was previously reported that they lived in a £4.5m mansion on St George's Hill, a luxury estate in Surrey. It is understood that the Government has struggled to wrangle information from the company in recent months, leaving officials blind-sided by the insolvency on Monday. The Government's investigation will seek to determine the nature of the collapse. Following Monday's announcement, Mr Shanks said: 'There have been longstanding issues with this company and workers have been badly let down.'
