Bashneft to acquire OPTAN chain of 92 filling stations in 12 regions
MOSCOW. July 17 (Interfax) - Bashneft has agreed to acquire the filling station chain operating under the OPTAN brand, including 92 existing filling stations and 11 land plots for future stations in 12 Russian regions: in Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Ulyanovsk, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Sverdlovsk regions; and in Bashkortostan, Mordovia, Chuvashia, Tatarstan and Mari El, Bashneft said in a press release.
"These regions are a high priority for the development of Bashneft's own retail network due to their geographical proximity to the Company's refining complex in Ufa and opportunities for optimizing the cost of petroleum product supplies," the press release says.
Bashneft acquired control of a 100% stake in AZS-Saransk LLC and 100% of shares in CJSC Ural and CJSC Helios owning part of the network of filling stations (37 filling stations) operating under the OPTAN brand name and four land plots to be used for construction of new filling stations. These transactions have been approved by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).
"In addition, FAS has approved the acquisition of 100% of CJSC OPTAN-AZS by Bashneft; OPTAN-AZS owns 49 filling stations operating under the OPTAN brand name and three land plots. The Company has also submitted an application to the antitrust authority to acquire a 100% stake in LLC AZS-Ufa owning the rest of the OPTAN network (six filling stations and four land plots)," it says.
Bashneft's Board of Directors has approved the acquisition of the OPTAN network of filling stations for a total of no more than 8.8 billion rubles (adjusted for working capital). "It is expected that, subject to FAS approval of the acquisition of LLC AZS-Ufa by the Company, the acquisition of the OPTAN network will be completed before the end of 2014," it says.
