More Atlas Network intrigue

On Thursday 20 September 2018, the Atlas Network think tank named the NZ Initiative issued a press statement where it welcomed a new director onto its board.

The Press Release stated, "Jennings is one of New Zealand’s most successful entrepreneurs. For more than 20 years, the Taranaki-born economist and investor has been living and working in emerging markets. A pioneer of capital markets in Central and Eastern Europe and Africa, he is responsible for more than $200 billion worth of investment into these regions."

The press release went on to describe how Stephen Armstrong Jennings was doing great things in a handful of African nations - where his company named Rendeavour helped build city-scale developments...but it's what the Press Release did not say that made me write about this today.

Turns out Stephen Jennings was one of the 1984 "Free market" Treasury Officials involved deep in the heart of Rogernomics..

According to a 2008 article by Paddy Gower in the NZ Herald -

"He credits secretary Graham Scott, and senior officials Roger Kerr (former executive director of the Business Roundtable now deceased), Bryce Wilkinson (economist at NZ Initiative) and Rob Cameron (former investment banker deceased ) for teaching him "common sense"." - and - "He hit the free-market highway, working on "Telecom's deregulation, health reform, ports, airports, environmental resource management, deregulation, corporatisation, privatisation" in New Zealand and Australia."

In early 1990 the Fourth Labour Government confirmed it would sell the Telecom Corporation of New Zealand. Together with merchant banker David Richwhite, Alan Gibbs brokered the $4.25 billion winning bid for the company...and the rest is history.

As you know Gibbs is a massive sponsor of the Act Party and set up Atlas Network think tanks and yes we all know his daughter is the chair of the Atlas Network worldwide...but whilst that is revealing about who Stephen Jennings is - there is more that the NZ Initiative did not want to tell you.

Stephen Jennings spent 16 years in Russia ( according to Gower ) and his "other company", investment bank Renaissance Capital became one of the major players in Russian finance.

There was speculation that Jennings (who is six foot seven inches tall )- might be New Zealand's richest man after Forbes reckoned his stake in his company was $5.8 Billion in 2008 and an article in British magazine Spectator quoted a fellow banker who called him "the only foreign oligarch in Russia".

On 11 June 2019 Reuters published an article that stated - "A senior American banker once secretly awarded a shareholding in powerful Moscow investment bank Renaissance Capital to one of Vladimir Putin's closest friends and brokered meetings for the friend with top U.S. foreign policy officials a decade ago, emails show."

Ten days later Interest dot co dot nz published an article titled "Kiwi businessman and NZ Initiative director Stephen Jennings says claims he benefited from Kremlin abuses of the market system and the rule of law are misconceived and vexatious."

That article states - "The case dates back to Jennings' days in Russia in the noughties with investment firm Renaissance Group, where he was co-founder and CEO. Jennings is one of five defendants alleged to have sought to benefit from Kremlin abuses of the market system and the rule of law when Yukos Oil Company was broken up."

Yukos Oil was bankrupted in 2006 as a result of actions taken by the Russian state, and its assets were sold off in a series of state-run auctions. The last auction, in August 2007, was of the shares in Yukos Finance, which owned around US$1.5 billion in cash as well as a valuable oil pipeline. It was won by a consortium of investors including the Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital, of which Mr Jennings was the CEO.

Anyway the case against Jennings in London was dismissed in October 2019 for various reasons in a 50 page ruling - but on page 3 of that ruling it is revealed that Stephen Jennings was forced to flee Russia in January 2013.

I have no idea why nor should anything much be read into that without the facts and getting the full story.

In any case Jennings had taken Fairfax Media to task in a defamation case in 2015 and won cos they made assertions that were not true and did not ask him for his side and it boiled down to - not damaging his reputation by making false allegations and smears - and for this reason I am ( as per usual ) sticking only to the published facts.

It's a curiosity that in August 2017 David Seymour launched a book entitled Own Your Future - a liberal vision for New Zealand and Stephen Jennings wrote the foreword.

Jennings wrote almost three pages - in which he reckoned we are renowned for celebrating our success but asked if we were equally self aware in recognising and facing up to our weaknesses?

Jennings thought Seymour showed we are not - in many diverse areas like housing affordability, the sustainability of our pension fund, incarceration rates and educational outcomes.

He said these areas should be matters of national shame and NZ was engaging in a dangerous game of denial about our economic and social weaknesses.

Seymour demystified and simplified our policy ills according to Jennings ...but I'll leave it there.

Curiously Jennings had been appointed as a Director on 13 September 2018 and on 8 February 2024 he ceased to be a director of the NZ Initiative.

I hope you have found this post informative and it just goes to show what a ready supply of pens can reveal as I reflect upon everything David Seymour is up to these days.

More Atlas Network intrigue

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