Rosneft to Swap Sibneft for YUKOS
Rosneft is interested in getting 20 percent of Sibneft stocks kept so far on the YUKOS balance, Rosneft President Sergey Bogdanchikov said in Astana (Kazakhstan) on Wednesday, July 6, specifying, however, the company would prefer to collect from YUKOS $3.5 billion it owes to Rosneft (or to be more precise to Rosneft's Yuganskneftegaz that used to be a core production arm of YUKOS).
But Rosneft will hardly be able to get any cash from YUKOS until it clears back taxes due to the state, and this won’t happen before late this year. Moreover, the stake of not 20 percent but of 34.5 percent in Sibneft has been seized under the suits of Rosneft, but the tricky moment is that Chukotka’s Arbitration ruled again yesterday to transfer 14.5 percent under control of Millhouse Capital, a managing company for Sibneft principal holders, including Chukotka’s Governor Roman Abramovich. Bogdanchikov is apparently not too greedy, the more so that the market value of 20 percent in Sibneft (around $3.3 billion) nearly matches the amount of YUKOS debt to Rosneft.
The experts speculate the 20 percent in Sibneft could be attractive to Rosneft only as an asset for resale, for instance, to Gazprom. It is no secret that Russian gas monopoly is eyeing 57.5 percent in Sibneft currently controlled by Millhouse Capital. Once obtaining a minor stake in Sibneft in settlement for YUKOS debt even less the discount, Rosneft will be able to sell it to Gazprom at premium and spend the money either to clear some potion of its own debt or, perhaps, to acquire another asset of YUKOS – Tomskneft, Samaraneftegaz or one of its refineries – should the government put them up for sale to clear tax arrears.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of July 07, 2005
|
