Gazprom could buy back shares on market - sources
MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax) - Gazprom is thinking of buying back shares on the market, a source at the Russian gas giant told Interfax.
"Gazprom is thinking of buying back its own shares on the market and is looking closely at ExxonMobil's experience of this," the source said.
Gazprom's share price rose 2% to 148.62 rubles by 5:43 p.m. on the Moscow Exchange following the news. Prior to that they were down 0.1%.
This is the first time Gazprom has suggested it might adopt a more active stance with respect to its capitalization. In the past, managers have linked trends in its share value with the policy of the regulators and the macroeconomic environment.
Gazprom launched a new options program for management this year. Some managers have already reported buying millions of rubles worth of stock.
ExxonMobil spends tens of billions of dollars buying its share back from the market. It earmarked $17 billion for this in the last four quarters.