Rosneft acquired Baikalfinancegroup, a company that won the auction for the sale of Yuganskneftegaz on December 19.

It is reported that Rosneft acquired a 100 percent stake from the former owners of Baikalfinancegroup, whose names have not been disclosed.

As Rosneft representative Alexander Stepanenko told RBC, the acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz was carried out as part of the implementation of the development plans of OJSC NK Rosneft, which provide for the transformation of the company into a national energy corporation through the development of the company's production capacities in all regions of its activity: Siberia, the Far East , in the north and south of the European part of the Russian Federation. However, a company representative found it difficult to answer the question whether the purchase of Baikalfinance Group will affect plans to merge with Gazprom.

According to A. Stepanenko, “the owners of Baikalfinancegroup LLC offered OJSC NK Rosneft to purchase the assets they owned, acquired at the auction for the sale of OJSC Yuganskneftegaz.”

As Gazprom press secretary Igor Volobuev told RBC, Rosneft's new acquisitions will not affect Gazprom's plans to merge Rosneft and increase the state's share in Gazprom to a controlling stake. “The merger is going according to plan,” he said.

Let us remind you that last Sunday the Baikalfinansgroup company acquired 76.79% of the shares of Yuganskneftegaz. This result of the auction became a real sensation, and for several days analysts wondered who owned the company that won the auction and how it would dispose of the shares of the former Yukos subsidiary.

Yesterday, some Russian publications suggested that a group of officials and businessmen led by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Igor Sechin, who, by the way, is the chairman of the board of directors of the state company Rosneft, may be behind Baikalfinance Group. The sale of Baikalfinancegroup to Rosneft indirectly confirms this version.

Meanwhile, representatives of YUKOS itself said in a Houston court that they would demand 20 billion in compensation from the buyer of Yuganskneftegaz after the completion of procedures related to the sale of the company's main division. After receiving the latest news from Moscow, Yukos spokesman in Houston Richard Mintz said that the company would take action against any organization involved in the deal to purchase Yuganskneftegaz shares. It is worth adding that the next hearing of the Houston court is scheduled to take place on January 6.

Let us recall that on December 17, an American court in Houston issued a temporary ban on the sale of shares in the Yuganskneftegaz company. However, this verdict was ignored in Russia. By law, such decisions can only be made by domestic courts. The Houston court's decision could have dealt a blow to banks that were ready to provide loans for the acquisition of Yuganskneftegaz. Violation of the verdict should have led to the freezing of the assets of those who went against the Houston court. But there is no information that Baikalfinancegroup had any assets in the United States.

Yuganskneftegaz went to Rosneft