Hetem Ramadani (born c. 1952) is a Kosovo - Albanian engineer and businessman of

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

extraction who is the president and founder of Salbatring, an oil products-trading company based in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Early life

Ramadani was born around 1952, of Albanian extraction. He trained as a

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

.From refugee to oil magnate.
Marko Biočina, ''Nacional'', No. 735, 15 December 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2015.

Career

Ramadani has claimed that he was dismissed from his civil service job in Kosovo due to his support for Kosovar independence. He then fled to Slovenia in 1991, chased out of Kosovo by

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Милошевић, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the President of Serbia between 1989 and 1997 and President of the Federal Republic of Yugos ...

's secret police according to the ''Financial Times'',Patriotism and profits in Kosovo.
''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'', 18 February 2008. Retrieved 9 November 2015. and arrived there penniless and unable to speak the language. In Slovenia, he and his wife Hazbije Ramadani founded the oil products-trading company Salbatring International which specialises in trading oil-related

financial derivatives In finance, a derivative is a contract between a buyer and a seller. The derivative can take various forms, depending on the transaction, but every derivative has the following four elements: # an item (the "underlier") that can or must be bou ...

. He is president and Hazbije was the vice president. The firm was named after the couple's first three daughters. In 2008, Salbatring began direct sales of oil and oil derivatives to its key customer, INA of Croatia. The same year, turnover at Salbatring increased from 60 million euros in 2007 to 611 million euros, despite Salbatring having only 14 employees. Ramadani was calculated to be the seventh-richest person in Slovenia, with estimated assets of over 68 million euros. Results at INA, however, were less successful, with the firm experiencing a "catastrophic" loss of about 1.5 billion kuna in the last three months of 2008. Ramadani moved to Dubai at about this time.

Personal life

Ramadani married Hazbije Ramadani in 1981. They had four children but separated in 2008 and Mrs Ramadani moved to London. Mr Ramadani moved to Dubai at about the same time. Their marriage was dissolved by a Slovenian court in 2011. In legal proceedings in London in November 2015, Hazbije Ramadani argued that her former husband could afford to pay her spousal support as, in her opinion, he has assets of at least £48 million. The claim was rejected by counsel for Mr Ramadani who argued that the matter had already been settled in Slovenia."Tycoon claims ex wants 'second bite of the cherry' in £48m court battle", Paul Cheston, ''

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'', 2 November 2015, p. 24. Ramadani is now married to the Albanian opera singer

Inva Mula Inva Mula (born 27 June 1963) is an Albanian opera lyric soprano. She began her soprano career at a very early age. Her father ( Avni Mula) and mother () were also opera singers. She is also known for providing the voice of the diva Plavalaguna i ...

Art

In 2010 it was reported that Ramadani was the buyer at auction for 75,000 euros of an icon by mid-eighteenth-century painter

Kostandin Shpataraku Kostandin Shpataraku (; 17361767), also commonly known as Shpataraku, was an Albanian Orthodox icon and fresco painter of the Post-Byzantine period in the eighteenth century. He continued to combine Byzantine tradition with influences from the R ...

that was formerly in the ownership of the family of the modern painter, Alush Shima.Albania Struggles to Catalogue its Unknown Treasures.
''BalkanInsight'', 30 October 2010. Retrieved 10 November 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramadani, Hetem Living people 1950s births Year of birth uncertain Mechanical engineers Kosovan people of Albanian descent