“All of this makes sense,” responded the Russian after he had heard the explanation of the handful of changes. “Let’s start signing.”
Signing the documentation took more than an hour. Eight original signature pages had to be signed for each document, which included 37 documents for the acquisition and another 12 documents that would be filed the next day with the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and the International Civil Aviation Authority. Somewhere else in Dubai in a similar conference room, the seller was signing exact replicas of the same signature pages.
Masrov was down to his last handful of signature pages when Abraham Sanjoors walked into the conference room. “How are you, Gennady?”
“Well, it’s about time.” Masrov placed his pen down on the table and stood to shake hands with the senior attorney.
Sanjoors smiled broadly as he shook hands with his Russian client. “I left you in good hands.”
“That you did. That you did.” Masrov looked at Hughes and winked.
“Almost done?”
“I hope so. My hand is cramping up.”
“Yeah, I know it’s bad. I’m sorry that we need so much documentation. But look on the bright side, this deal is all equity financed. If we had a bank involved or a mezzanine lender, the documentation would be double or triple and this whole process would have taken another two or three months.”
Masrov shook his head. “It’s easier in Russia.”
Sanjoors did not respond. Instead he pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and sat down in front of a telephone that was on top of a side table. “Did you have any questions for me?”
“No. Stephen was able to answer all my questions.”
The partner turned to his associate. “We all done?”
Stephen Hughes paused for a moment as he watched Masrov sign the final page, which was the last of eight pages of a Resolution of the single owner of Swiss-Arab Air Cargo FZE authorizing the acquisition of all outstanding shares of the target company. Gennady Masrov finally signed his name for the last time that morning. Hughes looked at his boss and nodded.
Sanjoors dialed nine and then the number on the paper. He waited as the phone on the other end rang several times. “Hello” came the response as the phone was picked up. Abraham Sanjoors spoke briefly with the attorney for the selling company. Each man confirmed that all of the required documentation had been signed by their clients and agreed to scan and email the signature pages of a few key documents to each other. Sanjoors then confirmed the amount of money to be wired from the bank account of Swiss-Arab Air Cargo FZE to the bank accounts of the four individuals who had owned the shares of the target company before this morning. The proceeds were not being divided equally. The man that Masrov had negotiated with in early January owned 78.6 % of the outstanding shares. The rest was split approximately equally between three other owners. All of the selling shareholders were Emiratis.
A half hour later, as Masrov was finishing a cup of tea, Sanjoors walked back into the conference room. “Okay. We are ready to finish this. I have been talking to Mukhtar Al-Zubaidy at HSBC and they have all of the wire instructions and required documentation. All that is needed is a call from you to authorize.” The partner was talking to Masrov. “Last chance to back out. You ready to wire seven point eight five million dollars?”
“Yes, Abraham. Hand me the phone. Let’s finish this.”
Two hours later, a black Mercedes S600 pulled up to the door of one of the smaller hanger buildings at Ras Al-Khaimah International Airport. Calling it an “International Airport” was far more ambitious than the facility was able to live up to. It features a single runway of 12,300 feet that runs from the northwest to the southeast. The lone runway doubles as a taxiway. The tarmac, at only 2,000 feet long by 750 feet wide, is tiny by the standards of a major airport. Along the eastern edge of the tarmac is a small passenger terminal building and a series of hangers used by various aviation companies. As of this day, the newest user was Swiss-Arab Air Cargo, FZE through its brand new wholly-owned subsidiary.
Over the next three hours Masrov was introduced as the new owner to the employees who were present. The company had a payroll with only five pilots, three mechanics and another fourteen employees. Masrov was introduced by the prior owner, who said his farewell to each employee, promised to be available if anyone needed him and quickly drove off in the back of a green Land Rover.
Masrov told the assembled group the most important thing they wanted to hear: their jobs were safe. He went on to tell them of his plans to grow the company and told them that the days of being starved for cash were over. They would be very well capitalized. He introduced them to their new name and showed them the new company logo and the plans for a significant Internet presence. He spoke of the many connections he had in Russia and the expectation that the company would see a meaningful share of the growing cargo traffic between Russia and the Middle East.
Finally, he told them that in order to support their expected growth, they would be adding planes, starting with two Ilyushin Il-76 cargo jets. If things went well and everyone worked hard, he assured them, there would be more Il-76 cargo planes added to the company’s fleet. Masrov shared his dream of operating the largest fleet of Il-76 aircraft outside of Russia and its former Republics. To properly manage the new growth and new planes they would be adding, he told them, a new Russian operations manager would soon be introduced to oversee all operations. He immediately reassured the current managers that this new employee would be an addition to the team, not a substitute for one of them. What Gennady Masrov did not share was that he expected to bring in many new employees who were trained professionals and could properly maintain and fly the growing fleet of Ilyushins.
When he was done, the employees, who had been demoralized by the slow drip of failure under the prior ownership, were excited about the future for the first time in a very long time. The senior operations manager, a former East German who had been bouncing around the Middle East since the collapse of communism, walked up and shook his hand. The man spoke little English, but his Russian was quite good. He hoped that his language skills would endear him to his new boss. “On behalf of the entire team,” the East German expatriate said in Russian, “I welcome you as our new leader. We are very happy you are here.” Masrov received a standing ovation from the team.
23 — Simulations
On the same day that Gennady Masrov met his new employees in the UAE, Marc Leizman hanged up the phone in the small cubicle that was now his office. He had a feeling of great satisfaction. He was spending all of his time now living and working on Nevatim Air Base in the Negev, his home a room on the base that he shared with Hillel Meir during the week and had to himself during the weekends. His small cubicle was located inside one of the two hanger buildings that each housed one Ilyushin 76. The desktop was covered in manuals and work records and the walls were dirty, the grease and grime of an active hanger being impossible to clean. As per the standards established while he was in Jerusalem, Leizman had a secure phone and a secure computer that each connected to the outside world through the El Al network.
Leizman reached into his pocket and pulled out a key chain. He flipped through a half a dozen keys and wrapped his fingers around a security key that he used to open a box on his desk. The open box revealed a telephone that looked like a typical full function office phone. He lifted the handset. The encrypted telephone connected over the dedicated IDF intranet only to one place: Mount Olympus. He entered a six digit code that turned the unit on and a phone immediately rang at the operational headquarters of Project Block G. After a two minute wait, General David Schechter was handed the phone on the receiving end.