ONK shareholders to discuss receiving chief executive powers at Ufaorgsintez
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - OJSC United Petrochemical Company (ONK) will hold an extraordinary shareholders meeting in the form of absentee voting, at which it will discuss the issue of concluding an agreement to receive the chief executive powers at OJSC Ufaorgsintez , ONK said in a press release.
Ballots are being accepted until April 16. The list of individuals with the right to participate in the extraordinary shareholders meeting was compiled on March 26.
On March 30, Bashneft's board of directors will approve an action plan to transfer chief executive powers at Ufaorgsintez to management firm ONK. Ufaorgsintez is also calling an extraordinary shareholders meeting to discuss this issue.
The plans to put Ufaorgsintez under the management of ONK also require approval from the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). In February, the FAS received the relevant request from ONK; however, it postponed its review by two months, requesting additional information.
A Bashneft spokesman previously told Interfax: "Our principal shareholder, AFK Sistema , has repeatedly talked about its interest in the petrochemical business as an independent area. Last September we brought in a strategic partner - the company Petrochemical Holding - and formed a joint venture in which Bashneft owns 75% of shares. The transfer of Ufaorgsintez to the management of ONK looks like the next logical step."
ONK is elaborating a development strategy, but it has not yet been approved by Bashneft's board of directors. So far, the company has only specified that in the next five years, ONK plans to become one of Russia's three largest petrochemicals companies in terms of sales volume and become one of its most efficient by adopting advanced technology for producing high-yield polymers.
As the controlling shareholder in the joint venture, Bashneft intends to pay close attention to assets transferred to ONK management, as well as to directly influence this company's key decisions.
At the end of last year, Bashneft and Petrochemical Holding (a structure belonging to ex-SIBUR chief Yakov Goldovsky) founded the joint venture United Petrochemical Company. Bashneft received a 74.99% stake, and Petrochemical Holding GmbH received a little over 25%.