Five-minute auction

Rosneft earned a billion dollars from the sale of the first asset of Yukos

The active phase of the sale of Yukos property has begun . Yesterday, in exactly five minutes, representatives of TNK-BP's subsidiary Samotlorneftegaz made bids five times in the auction for the sale of 9.44% of Rosneft shares and 12 Yuganskneftegaz promissory notes, and Rosneft's granddaughter - RN-Development interrupted their proposal five times. There were no more contenders for this asset, representatives of YUKOS shareholders - Group Menatep - were not allowed into the building of the bankrupt company where the auction was taking place, and mobile communications on all floors except the first were jammed. In such a quiet and calm environment, RN-Razvitie, which offered 197.84 billion rubles for the lot. ($7.587 billion) was declared the winner of the auction.

The organizers of the YUKOS case have always been distinguished by their love of round numbers. This could not have happened yesterday either. The starting price of the lot was exactly $7.5 billion. The difference between the market price of the stake in Rosneft being sold at the time of bidding and the price offered by the auction winner was exactly $1 billion. The official representative of the state company, Vladimir Voevoda, said in response: “We We believe we paid a fair price." True, the company, in accordance with the decision of its board of directors, was going to lend $9 billion to RN-Razvitie. It is not reported what the fate of the $1.4 billion that was not needed for yesterday’s auction was. In turn, the chairman of the board of directors of YUKOS, Viktor Gerashchenko, told reporters after the auction: “The auction could have been better, since the starting price of this asset was set at a level below the market one. If you bought at a low price, then you give the majority and minority shareholders the opportunity to criticize such a deal in the free press, because this asset can then be sold on the market at a higher price. They (the winners - Ed. ) set themselves up."

Now Rosneft, as its representative says, will either “exchange most of the acquired stake of its own shares for core assets in Russia and abroad,” or “in the event of a certain situation” will place it on the market “for free circulation.” However, the company’s official press release only indicates its intention to exchange Rosneft shares for assets. What exactly is not specified.

It is worth noting, says Vladimir Vedeneev, head of the market analysis department of the Bank of Moscow, that in fact the auction was the final stage in the sale of Yuganskneftegaz. At the end of 2004, all ordinary shares of this company were sold for YUKOS's debts to the budget, while preferred shares remained with YUKOS. Last year, Rosneft consolidated the assets of its subsidiaries, during which the “prefs” of Yuganskneftegaz turned into a stake in Rosneft. “As a result, if Yukos received $9.4 billion for the voting shares of Yuganskneftegaz, the former preferred shares were sold for $7.45 billion. As a result, the acquisition of the entire Yuganskneftegaz cost Rosneft almost 16.9 billion dollars, or approximately $1.5 per barrel of proven reserves,” Mr. Vedeneev points out in his review.

Rosneft does not intend to stop there in absorbing YUKOS assets. The company continues to confirm its interest in YUKOS assets and claims that it is ready to participate in the upcoming auctions. The company, as its president Sergei Bogdanchikov has repeatedly stated, is primarily interested in the Yukos oil refineries; Yuganskneftegaz oil is still processed there. Yesterday, the press secretary of the bankruptcy trustee of the bankrupt company said that a committee of creditors will meet next Friday, which may determine the advisability of combining processing and mining assets into single lots based on territoriality. Auctions may be scheduled for late April - early May. So by summer, the YUKOS brand, apparently, will no longer exist.

In this story, the role of TNK-BP, which agreed to make a deposit of $1.5 billion to participate in yesterday’s auction and lose to Rosneft, is very interesting. In exchange for this courtesy, which allowed the state oil company to win over a loyal "competitor", the Anglo-Russian structure, it is believed, may no longer be subject to strong pressure from regulatory authorities. In particular, the license for the Kovykta gas field will most likely not be taken away from her. “Apparently, a very correct solution, a compromise, has been found,” says one of the oil market participants, “but it is unlikely to be known before the end of the Yukos sale at the end of May.” After all, around the same days, by a strange coincidence, TNK-BP’s deadline for eliminating violations of the license agreement for the development of the Kovykta field expires.

Nikolay GORELOV