YUKOS Takes Over Rosneft
// YUKOS will be the main minority shareholder in Rosneft, but not for long
YUKOS has agreed to the incorporation of its main asset, the Yuganskeneftgaz company, into the state-owned Rosneft oil company as part of the consolidation of Rosneft assets, which is currently underway in preparation for its IPO. In exchange for 23.21 percent of Yuganskneftegaz stock, YUKOS will become the owner of 9.7 percent of Rosneft, making it the company's largest minority shareholder. That status will largely be a formality, however. After the inevitable bankruptcy of YUKOS, Rosneft is likely to get that package of stock back.
Rosneft announced the results of votes at stockholders meetings at the company's subsidiaries yesterday. The companies participating in the consolidation of Rosneft's assets overwhelmingly approved that consolidation. Yuganskneftegaz, a key Rosneft asset, was not mentioned in the company's statement. A source in YUKOS told Kommersant, however, that Yuganskneftegaz shareholders also voted for incorporation into Rosneft on June 2. A stock exchange will take place, freeing Rosneft of the obligation to pay YUKOS $6 billion for the part of Yuganskneftegaz that it owns.
The 9.7 percent of Rosneft stock that YUKOS will receive in the deal will almost certainly be returned to Rosneft in the course of YUKOS' bankruptcy, analysts say, noting that the bankruptcy was initiated by Rosneft and is proceeding under Rosneft's control. Of the 102 billion rubles that the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled YUKOS owed, 88 billion are to go to Yuganskneftegaz, although tomorrow the same court will consider 354 billion rubles in claims against YUKOS by the Federal Tax Service. If that package of Rosneft stock is returned to Rosneft, and Rosneft makes a full exchange of stocks with the rest of its subsidiaries, YUKOS will be left with a 2.15-percent share in the company.
The exchange of stocks is unlike to be 100 percent, however. The value of stock in Sakhalinmorneftegaz, which is publicly traded and in which Rosneft owns 35.38 percent, fell by 17 percent when Rosneft announced the exchange coefficient it proposed for that company's stock. Shareholders in that company could vote for a buyout rather than exchange. Other companies' shareholders have also threatened to challenge Rosneft's actions in court. Rosneft noted in its statement yesterday that the exchange coefficients are based on the independent assessments of Deloitte & Touche and take the interests of all shareholders in its subsidiaries into account.
Anna Skornyakova, Natalia Skorlygina
All the Article in Russian as of June 06, 2006
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