Govt may sell up to 6% of Rosneft stock in 2013 - Belousov
MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax) - The Russian government may sell some of the state's stock in oil major Rosneft next year.
At a government meeting on Thursday, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov described Rosneft as being among another seven companies in which stock is planned to be sold in 2013.
"A stake of up to 6%" in Rosneft could be sold, Belousov said.
Shares in the company fell 1.2% to 231.28 rubles on the news on the MICEX-RTS, while the rest of the market gained 0.1%-1.2%.
The state-owned Rosneftegaz owns 75.16% of Rosneft, LLC RN-Razvitie (controlled by Rosneft) - 9.53%, Sberbank of Russia (nominal holder) - 10.19%, other legal entities - less than 1%, individuals - 0.51% and Rosneft itself - 3.04%.
At the beginning of this week, Rosneft announced that it had agreed to buy 100% of the stock in TNK-BP from its two shareholders - the Russian AAR consortium (Alfa Group, Access Industries, and Renova) and BP - which own TNK-BP Limited on an equal basis. TNK-BP Limited owns 100% of TNK-BP International - both registered in the British Virgin Islands.
The price tag on the deal with BP is $28 billion, with Rosneft paying $17.1 billion in cash and making up the rest with 12.84% of its stock (valued at $8 per share for the deal).
BP has offered to reinvest $4.8 billion in cash for the purchase of an additional 5.66% stake in Rosneft from state-run OJSC Rosneftegaz. Together with the shares it already holds, BP could become the holder of 19.75% of Rosneft stock, thus becoming the company's second largest shareholder.
