| The company is getting rid of assets in Russia Group MENATEP, the main owner of YUKOS, no longer sees prospects for working in Russia. Having received Mikhail Khodorkovsky's shares in December and becoming the largest owner of the group, the disgraced oligarch's associate Leonid Nevzlin, who owns 68% of the company, intends to devote the near future to the sale of Russian assets of Group MENATEP. Obviously, this is not an easy task, since, as Tim Osborne, director of the holding, states, the company “does not intend to sell the property at any price and will wait for opportunities to sell it. Negotiations are currently underway regarding some assets with investors from Russia and other countries.”
It is possible that Mr. Nevzlin himself would have done this much earlier, but he received such an opportunity only by becoming the largest shareholder of the group. Obviously, there will now be more serious problems with this. Tim Osborne noted yesterday that he considers Russia an unsafe place for investment, and the group allows about two years to sell its property. But Group MENATEP shareholders make no mistake about YUKOS itself. "I can't imagine anyone in their right mind buying the company at the moment; we haven't even thought about selling it," Mr Osborne said.
In December, the group sold its 50% stake in the PhosAgro holding (owner of the country-famous Apatit company) to its managers. And now he is looking for a buyer for the telecommunications holding Antel Holdings Ltd., the Internet provider Sibintek and the Insurance Company Progress-Garant.
By the way, Progress-Garant already changed its founders in April last year. 38% of its shares, owned by MFO Menatep, were transferred to the consulting group Business and Law. Another 13%, which was in the possession of YUKOS, went to the Progress insurance company. The remaining 49% remained with the old founder, the Cypriot company Lex Casta Enterprises Limited. Thus, at least formally, Progress-Garant distanced itself from its disgraced shareholders and became an independent company. However, based on Mr Osborne's statements yesterday, continued to remain part of Group Menatep. Indeed, at one time one of the owners of the new shareholder of Progress-Garant, the Business and Law company, was Oleg Ashurkov, the general director of the MFO Menatep, and the Cyprus offshore company was already associated in the market with Group Menatep. Over the first 9 months of last year, the Progress-Garant company became the 28th insurance company in Russia in terms of premiums collected, which amounted to 1.466 billion rubles.
In addition, Tim Osborne yesterday warned the Chinese oil state corporation CNPC against lending to Rosneft. According to rumors, the Chinese are considering the possibility of providing Mr. Bogdanchikov's company with $6 billion. These funds, it is assumed, could be used to pay off the mysterious lender who financed the purchase of Yugansk by Rosneft.
“If they (CNPC - Ed. ) go further and finance this (the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz - Ed. ), then they will become potential defendants (before Group MENATEP - Ed. ), Tim Osborne told Interfax. -- We are in no hurry to file new claims, we are waiting until the final owner of Yuganskneftegaz appears. And I think that everyone who was involved (in the sale of this asset - Ed. ) could potentially be a defendant."
However, most likely the struggle between the ex-owners of YUKOS and the Chinese will be much more difficult than with a pool of Western banks. In any case, it is unlikely that Beijing, which over the past year has been strengthening relations with Moscow not only in the field of oil production, will be as zealous in implementing the decision of the American courts as the bankers. So in the fight against the eastern enemy, Group MENATEP may face defeat. Denis REBROV, Igor POLISCHUK |
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