Kommersant: Rosneft buys Gunvor

One of the largest exporters of Russian oil, Swiss Gunvor, can be put up for sale. The company, who previously owned by businessman Gennady Timchenko, is looking for buyers to his business. Negotiations go with several potential partners, but Rosneft is considered the main contender, Kommersant reports.

Sources of the publication said that the company is planned to be sold entirely, among possible buyers - large oil concerns, including Rosneft. The final cost of the trader has not yet been determined, but we are talking about about $ 5 billion. At the same time, the publication reported that the company is not engaged in the search for customers.

Gunvor was registered in 2003 in Geneva. For a long time, the company remained the main seller of Russian oil Urals, buying it from Surgutneftegaz, Rosneft, TNK-BP, Gazprom Neft. The media repeatedly suggested that the success of the oil industry is associated with friendly ties of Timchenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2012, Gunvor sharply reduced Russian oil procurement volumes. Gennady Timchenko explained such changes in that the oil market is "overheated". At the same time, the press appeared in the press that the company had a conflict with Rosneft President Igor Sechin.

In March 2014, Timchenko sold his share in the company of one of the founders of the company Torbjorn Terkvist. This was announced on March 19, the day before the announcement that US sanctions were imposed on the businessman. The official statement of Gunvor noted that the entrepreneur was afraid of possible economic sanctions and decided to get rid of a share in the company in order not to endanger it.