…As Paradise Papers show Oxford and Cambridge invested tens of millions offshore***
Ferry operator Stena Line and Doyle Shipping Group have launched legal proceedings before the UK’s Commercial Court over a dispute on the provision of services for ferry docking in Dublin Port, Stena Line spokesperson confirmed to World Maritime News.
The move is being undertaken on the heels of Stena Line’s contract termination with DSG in August this year.
Under the contract worth EUR 4 million (USD 4.6 million) on yearly basis, DSG was in charge of providing services such as stevedoring, checking-in and out of passengers, loading and unloading of freight in addition to administration services.
DSG alleges that the termination notice is not valid as the duo had an oral agreement for the provision of services at Dublin Port until 2022, the Irish Times reported. It also wants injunctions restraining Stena from transferring any of DSG’s contractual obligations to any other party.
Stena Line is said to be contending the charges, however, the company’s spokesperson denied to provide WMN with any further details on the matter until the legal process is concluded.
In the meantime, the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and nearly half of all Oxbridge colleges, have secretly invested tens of millions of pounds in offshore funds, including in a joint venture to develop oil exploration and deep-sea drilling, leaked documents from the Paradise Papers reveal.
The files show that both universities have committed significant funds to multibillion-dollar private equity partnerships based in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven popular with American and British hedge funds.
The money is routed through what are known as “blocker” corporations. This arrangement, typically done in partnership with a fund based in the US state of Delaware, means the universities can avoid or “block” a US tax on hedge fund investments. They receive dividends tax-free.
Papers marked “trade secret and confidential” show that in 2006 Oxford invested $3.4m (£2.6m) in a Guernsey-based private equity firm, Coller International. The money was put in two separate funds, made up of cash from the university itself and from individual colleges. Cambridge invested $1.7m in the same scheme.
Prem Sikka, an emeritus professor in accounting at the University of Essex, questioned the ethics of universities sending their endowments offshore. He said: “All the Caymans offer is secrecy and tax avoidance. There is nothing else there. It’s not as if this is a place actively engaged in advancing science, research or human knowledge.”
Sikka said universities needed to be more transparent about their investment decisions since they were public institutions that received public money, including from the EU. “We need to know what they are doing with the cash. There are issues of corporate social responsibility.”
One of the two funds – Coller International Partners V – was the largest of its kind worldwide. It eventually attracted $4.8bn in capital from almost 200 public institutions.
The fund’s biggest investment, of $1bn, was with Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil and gas company. A joint venture, the Shell Technology Ventures Fund, in turn invested in “production and exploration” technologies. One Shell business partner that received Oxbridge funds was Xtreme Coil. The firm specialises in “innovative and efficient drilling rigs” able to “reach hydrocarbons in deeper horizons”.
One of the largest contributors to the fossil-fuel-linked partnership was the UK university sector’s main pension scheme, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), with $88m invested. In July, the USS admitted it faced a deficit of £17.5bn, the biggest of any British retirement fund.
The Paradise Papers revelations are likely to increase pressure on Cambridge and Oxford to divest fully from fossil fuels. Last month, a group of academics at Cambridge led by Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, called for an end to carbon-based investments by the university.
World Maritime News with additional report from Guardian
