Translated material
Energy crossroads
The fight for OGK-3 has entered the final stage
Despite the financial problems of OGK-3 (the energy company reduced its net profit for January-September by 15 times, to 272 million rubles), the struggle between the state-owned Inter RAO and Eurosibenergo, owned by Oleg Deripaska, for the right to acquire 80% of its shares is only intensified. Thus, in a letter to the chairman of the board of directors of Norilsk Nickel (Vasily Titov), the main shareholder of OGK-3, member of the board of directors of the metallurgical company Maxim Sokov, who also holds the post of director for strategy and corporate development of RUSAL, indicates the advisability of selling this stake “ Eurosibenergo. In turn, the chairman of the Norilsk Nickel strategy committee, Bradford Mills, in a letter to the company's management insists that representatives of RUSAL should not take part in deciding the issue of the sale of OGK-3, and the Eurosibenergo proposal requires a more in-depth analysis. According to experts, the verdict will be made at the political level.Back in the fall, one of Norilsk Nickel’s shareholders, Vladimir Potanin (controls 25% of MMC), said that the company’s management must find “an adequate way to alienate a non-core asset.” The cost of the OGK-3 stake was estimated at $2.5-3 billion. Inter RAO was the first to show interest in the generator's securities, according to some sources, expecting to exchange 79% of the generating company's securities for 10--15% of its own shares as part of a large-scale additional issue . The total value of this stake now slightly exceeds $2 billion. Eurosibenergo, which only expressed a desire to acquire OGK-3 in early December, offered the same amount.
The latter’s proposal found support from the management of Norilsk Nickel itself. In a letter to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Norilsk Nickel, Vasily Titov, Mr. Sokov notes that it is most effective to sell a non-core asset for money. “Currently, the company has received an offer from EuroSibEnergo to acquire 79% of ordinary shares of OGK-3. The proposed transaction appears to be a reasonable way to alienate a non-core asset, which will lead to an increase in the value of the company (Norilsk Nickel - Ed. ) and an improvement in the financial performance of the group as a whole,” the letter says. This position is shared by experts. Thus, according to Renaissance Capital analyst Vladimir Sklyar, the preferred choice for Norilsk Nickel shareholders is Eurosibenergo. “Initially, the task was to get rid of a non-core asset. But the deal with Inter RAO is only an exchange of one non-core asset for another, and Eurosibenergo is offering real money. In addition, there are restrictions on the sale of Inter RAO shares within 12 months,” the expert notes.
Analysts, meanwhile, note that Inter RAO has significant administrative resources on its side. “The board of directors of Inter RAO is headed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, and it was decided to make the company itself a national champion,” recalled Vremya Novostey’s interlocutor. The weakness of Eurosibenergo's position, as analysts note, is the presence of a debt of $1.9 billion, $1.4 billion of which is to Sberbank. Moreover, the lender limits the ability to attract new loans until the current ones are repaid. The strategy committee under the board of directors of Norilsk Nickel has already demanded to provide information about the sources of financing for the deal with Eurosibenergo. The committee must prepare a final verdict in favor of the proposal of a particular company by December 16.