3 Feb 2010 18:05

Investment commission recommends Deripaska withdraw Russneft bid

MOSCOW. Feb 3 (Interfax) - The government's commission for foreign investment in strategic sectors recommended on Wednesday that Base Element chief Oleg Deripaska retract his year-old bid for the purchase of oil company Russneft .

"We finally dealt with the long-suffering Russneft deal," Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) chief Igor Artemyev said at a briefing after the commission met on Wednesday. "We suggested that Oleg Deripaska withdraw the petition."

The commission "hadn't seen any need to consider the bid, since Russneft had returned to its previous owner, Mikhail Gutseriev," he said.