Face to face

Rosneft holds a meeting of shareholders

Today there will be a meeting of shareholders of the largest domestic oil company - Rosneft. After the public IPO held in 2006, this event attracts the attention of hundreds of ordinary shareholders and officials: it is invariably attended by the chairman of the company’s board of directors and Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government, Igor Sechin. This year, shareholders will gather not in the capital of Russia, but in St. Petersburg, which will give the management of Rosneft the opportunity to simultaneously attend the international economic forum.

The agenda of the event is standard: it is planned to approve the company’s annual financial report, dividends, remuneration for members of the board of directors, elect a new audit commission, distribute profits and approve some transactions. The main intrigue, however, may be the election of a new board of directors of the company. This year, ten candidates were proposed for nine seats. A contender for a seat on the board of directors was Deputy Minister of Energy Sergei Kudryashev, who previously worked at Rosneft as vice president. Experts suggest that the president of Surgutneftegaz, Sergei Bogdanov, may leave him. He has held a seat on the board of directors of Rosneft for several years, while both companies and the government categorically deny the possibility of a conflict of interest. “The problem of Bogdanov’s presence still exists, even despite statements about the absence of a conflict of interest. Rosneft is developing rapidly and can hardly avoid colliding with Surgutneftegaz. For example, both companies are going to participate in the competition for the deposits named after. Trebs and Titov. Therefore, Mr. Bogdanov’s exit from the board of directors looks like the most logical option,” believes Denis Borisov from the Bank of Moscow. Lev Snykov from VTB Capital, however, believes that the board of directors of a state-owned company is a conflict-free body, and it is unlikely that the president of Surgutneftegaz would have been on it for so long if he was pursuing corporate interests. However, experts do not exclude another option. In June, the contract of Rosneft President Sergei Bogdanchikov, who has held this post for 12 years, ends. “Rumors around the resignation of Sergei Bogdanchikov have been circulating for a long time. Maybe the final decision has not yet been made, but if he leaves the board of directors, then this is a sign that his departure from the company is close,” believes Dmitry Lyutyagin, an analyst at Veles Capital.

The board of directors of Rosneft presented its opinion on the amount of dividends back in April. It is expected that they will amount to 2.3 rubles. per share, or 24.4 billion rubles. Thus, 11.7% of Rosneft’s net profit according to RAS will be used to pay dividends. Last year, payments were significantly less - 1.92 rubles. per share. However, then 20.3 billion rubles. amounted to 14.4% of the company’s net profit according to RAS. And although this year the size of dividends was increased by 20%, the company’s management decided not to listen to government officials who proposed abandoning the crisis payment policy. For example, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government Igor Shuvalov spoke about this, according to whom dividends could be increased to 25%. The position of Igor Sechin is also known, who has also repeatedly spoken out in favor of their significant increase. Experts, however, believe that with Rosneft’s current ambitions, dividends can hardly be increased. Denis Borisov recalls that the company's net debt in April amounted to $16 billion. He also points out that in 2011 the company may lose benefits for oil from its largest field, Vankor. Therefore, Rosneft, at least until the tax reform, is unlikely to follow the path of LUKOIL and TNK-BP, which allocate much more for dividends. At the same time, the board of directors also determined the amount of remuneration for the independent directors of the company - Chairman of the Board of VTB Bank Andrey Kostin, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander Nekipelov and Chairman of the Board of Barclays Capital Hans-Jörg Rudloff. They are asked to transfer 26,099 shares of the company. Also, shareholders must approve compensation for expenses of independent members of the board of directors related to the performance of their functions, namely accommodation, meals, as well as travel, including VIP lounge services and other fees

Kirill MELNIKOV