Splitting Russneft Into Basic Elements
In the first official move to buy out 100 percent in Mikhail Gutseriev’s Russneft, the firms of Oleg Deripaska’s Basic Element applied for formal sanction to Federal Antimonopoly Service yesterday. Despite the doubts triggered by the absentee detention of Gutseriev, the analysts view this application as evidence that the parties have maintained the initial agreement.
Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has received an application for the acquisition of Russneft stocks, the FAS representatives said Monday without specifying the name of the applicant or the number of stocks. In Basic Element, they confirmed that one of the company’s firms filed an application and a source familiar with the issue said it was an offshore company. FAS has a month to decide on the matter.
If clinched, the deal for Russneft’s buyout by Basic Element won’t be an ordinary undertaking. In late July, Basic Element announced it applied to FAS for the sanction, but the antimonopoly authority specified it was just a letter of intention. Soon after it, 100 percent in Russneft were seized and Mikhail Gutseriev, was added to the wanted list. The court sanctioned his arrest last week, but the businessman had long fled from Russia. Gutseriev is on the international wanted list now.
Regardless, it appears the presence of the owner is no longer a mandatory requirement. The sources close to negotiations said President Putin personally approved Deripaska’s decision to acquire oil assets of Gutseriev. Moreover, according to sources close to Gutserivev, he was paid $3 billion for Russneft in mid-August, and de facto, Basic Element has gained control over Russneft already. In Basic Element, however, they strongly refute this interpretation.
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All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 04, 2007
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