Alrosa extends deadline for deposit to bid in auction for gas assets to Jan 29
MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - The supervisory board of Alrosa voted on January 18 to revise a notice for a public auction to sell the diamond miner's gas assets, extending the deadline for making the deposit, the company said.
"In accordance with the revisions, the deadline for making the deposit to participate in the auction has been extended to January 29, 2018. In addition, requirements have been eased for the submission of permit documents from regulatory bodies by the participants," the company said.
The rest of the conditions of the auction remain unchanged. The auction itself will be held on February 19, as planned.
The auction will offer 100% of shares in Maretiom Investments Limited and Velarion Investments Limited, which own, respectively, 100% of Geotransgaz and 100% of Urengoi Gas Company, in a single lot at a starting price of 30 billion rubles. The deposit for participation in the auction is 21 billion rubles. Potential bidders were initially supposed to make the by January 10 and submit the application to bid in the auction by January 29.
The assets are being sold "as is." Alrosa is not assuming obligations to provide buyers with guarantees regarding the absence of financial, tax, legal and other risks concerning Maretiom and Velarion, or on these companies' obligations.
The conditions of the auction - the valuation of the companies, the size and deadline of the deposit and lack of guarantees regarding possible risks - drew criticism from Rosneft . The state oil major submitted an application to bid in the auction, although initially it said it would not bid on the proposed terms.