Rosneft offer to TNK-BP minority shareholders is final - Sechin
MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) - Rosneft's proposal to purchase shares from minority shareholders in RN Holding (formerly TNK-BP Holding) is final, Rosneft President Igor Sechin said.
The offer was decided by the Rosneft board of directors, on which independent directors John Mack, Donald Humphreys and Robert Dudley have seats, Sechin said.
"These are serious people that received the report on this issue. They unanimously approved the decision in support of this scheme," Sechin said.
The board recommended that RN Holding minority shareholders be offered 67 rubles for each ordinary share and 55 rubles for each preferred share. The company stressed that this represents a premium of 30-35% to the market price.
"We will work in the legal field, as the president said, on the basis of market approaches, taking into account the objectives set for improving the investment climate, but protecting the interests of Rosneft shareholders above all," Sechin said.
"We didn't take a single step that is not consistent with market approaches and that is not consistent with our legislation," he said.
"Why should we hurt the interests of Rosneft shareholders and help the shareholders of Templeton. They made investments, they had the opportunity to divest these investments. They didn't divest, and now they want to squeeze out, demand some kind of amounts that do not correspond to market approaches," Sechin said.
He said the figures presented by Templeton are, from Rosneft's perspective, theoretical not actual. Sechin said he met with Templeton separately and did not get any official proposals from the fund.
He said that previously TNK-BP minority shareholders had no influence and they were happy with this. "But now their unhappy with the voluntary actions of Rosneft to resolve the dispute," Sechin said.
He also said that by law Rosneft was supposed to use a six-month period to calculate the price for its buyout offer, but the company made the calculation based on an 18-month period.
"We made an absolutely proper offer, increased this period by three times, offered to calculate the average price over 18 months, which provides for a premium of about 30-35% to current prices," Sechin said.
"This offer was approved by the board of directors. I can't independently change such decisions. It was worked out with input from international experts. Leading world banks confirm the appropriateness of our offer," Sechin said.
RN Holding minority shareholders have complained that the offer price for their shares is low. They are proposing that Rosneft buy their shares for the same price it paid TNK-BP's former co-owners, the AAR consortium and BP. The minority shareholders reckon this price should be about 100 rubles per common share.
However, President Vladimir Putin has warned that the government will not allow the state oil major to buy RN Holding shares from minority shareholders at a price that is not consistent with the market.
Rosneft bought TNK-BP in March in a deal that was structured in a way that did not obligate Rosneft to buy out the shares of TNK-BP Holding, which consolidated the group's Russian assets.
Last week Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev suggested to Sechin that Rosneft should buy out RN Holding's minority shareholders, and the oil company's management agreed.