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SIBUR Managers Are Foreigners
The deal, unprecedented in Russia, for the purchase of 50 percent plus one stock in SIBUR by its managers has hit a snag in the law on foreign investment. Six of the SIBUR’s subsidiary enterprises, including SIBUR Tyumengaz and Tomskneftekhim, are subject to the law, and the stock is being acquired by the Cypriote Hidron Holdings Ltd. on the behalf of the management. The situation is further complicated by the fact that no procedure for the conciliation of such deals was ever worked out. Now the deal is delayed indefinitely.
The law “On the Procedure for Effecting Foreign Investment in Economic Societies Having Strategic Meaning for the Guaranteeing of the Defense of the Country and the Security of the State” was signed by the president of Russia on May 5 of this year. It requires foreign companies to undergo a complex approval process before investing in “strategic” Russian companies. Hidron signed a preliminary agreement with Gazprombank on the purchase of the SIBUR stock for 53.5 billion rubles ($2.26 billion) a month before was signed. Now it will be the first company to go through the approval procedure that does not exist yet.
An observer noted that the lack of a mechanism in the law to handle offshore companies with Russian beneficiaries was either an oversight or an attempt to discourage such companies. The Federal Antimonopoly Service was made responsible for the deal. A source in that agency says that the deal has been approved for conformity with the law “On Competition,” but there is still discussion on what documents to require under the new law.
SIBUR is Russia’s largest petrochemical holding, encompassing 34 enterprises. Its receipts in 2007 totaled 142.7 billion rubles. Gazprom bank owns 70 percent minus one stock, 25 percent minus one stock belongs to the Gazfond pension fund. Another 5 percent is available to the management under an options program. The beneficiaries of Hidron are SIBUR president Dmitry Konov, senior executive vice president Vladimir Razumov, vice president for economics and finance Alexey Filippovsky, vice president for organization Vitaly Baranov and head of the hydrocarbon raw materials directorate Mikhail Karisalov.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 04, 2008
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