Leading Lukoil shareholders spent $1 bln to acquire shares in last 2 yrs
MOSCOW. Aug 30 (Interfax) - The leading shareholders in Lukoil - President Vagit Alekperov and Vice President Leonid Fedun - spent about $1 billion to purchase company shares from the market over the last two years, Fedun said during a conference call.
Members of the management team continue to purchase shares, he said. "Overall in the past two years, company management, mainly the two of us [Alekperov and Fedun], have spent about $1 billion to acquire company shares. As a matter of fact, I can verify, not a single share came from the company, aside from those that we and the others receive in the form of options. We only buy shares from the market. The sources of the purchases are Lukoil dividends. Plus dividends from participation in IFD Kapital, plus the resources that are used in bank deals," Fedun said.
Company management continues to buy shares from the market, because this "is a sound investment. Lukoil's dividend yield is rising and we see significant prospects," he said.
It was reported previously that Lukoil launched a program to buy its shares from the market. The company reserved $2.5 billion for the purpose. The company plans to carry out the purchases through a subsidiary, LUKOIL Investments Cyprus Ltd, in the period up to the middle of 2015.