Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered that state companies,
especially Russian oil giant Rosneft, should be banned from
participating in privatisation of rival Bashneft, TASS quoted a source
familiar with the situation as saying, adding that Deputy Prime Minister
Arkady Dvorkovich repeatedly drew the attention of the Federal Property
Agency to that order.
VTB Capital, which acts as an investment advisor in the privatisation
of the 50.08% stake of Bashneft, sent letters to a number of investment
funds and companies, according to TASS. The list of recipients also
includes the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the Sistema
Holding, foreign funds – Hopu Capital, the Silk Road fund, ADIA,
Mubadala, QIA, Temasek, Fosun and CIC.
The government’s agent receives applications from potential buyers of Bashneft until July 25.
In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the
government’s decision to sell stakes in Rosneft, Bashneft, VTB, Alrosa
and Sovcomflot.
Russia’s privately owned company and number two oil producer in Russia LUKoil has already said it wanted to buy all of Bashneft.
The Federal Property Management Agency owns 50% plus one share of
Bashneft, the authorities of the republic of Bashkiria have 25% plus one
share. Bashneft operates in more than 20 regions of Russia and abroad.
In a money-lauding case, the Russian government nationalised Bashneft
in 2014, taking the shares held by billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov’s
holding company AFK Sistema.
Rosneft became the world’s largest listed oil producer by output in
2013 when it acquired Anglo-Russian oil company TNK-BP for $55 billion.
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/putin-reportedly-bans-rosneft-bashneft-sale/