RWE AG chief financial officer Klaus Sturany said his company is no longer in talks with OAO Gazprom over possible joint gas project in Russia.
Sturany said during a teleconference that high-level talks broke off “several months ago,” without providing further details on the matter.
The executive also declined to comment on whether RWE would welcome the Russian state as a shareholder.
Recent reports have appeared in the German press stating that Russian investors who may have been acting on Gazprom’s behalf have bought large blocks of RWE shares.
Sturany added that RWE has not hired any investment banks to prepare a strategy to defend against a possible takeover.
(AFX, 10/11/2006)