15 April 2004 03:55
Yukos Places an Ad Looking for Answers
Fueling speculation that demerger talks between Yukos and Sibneft never got off the ground, Yukos published a
full-page open letter in the Financial Times on Wednesday calling on shareholders who object to the merger to speak
up.
The letter, which some analysts said was an attempt to prod Sibneft into showing its hand, came as jailed Yukos
founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky himself wrote a new letter urging liberals to learn to work with President Vladimir
Putin.
"Many rumors have circulated concerning the status of the acquisition and future of the company, including the
possibility of a divorce, reversal or other form of breakup," Yukos CEO Simon Kukes wrote in the open letter in the
Financial Times.
"Yet despite speculation, no proposal to sell the Sibneft shares owned by Yukos Oil company to the former
Sibneft principal shareholders has been presented to the company."
Uncertainty surrounding the divorce, which was announced by shareholders in early February, is harming Yukos, Kukes
said.
He said shareholders who disagree with the merger should present concrete proposals on what to do next or Yukos
management will push ahead with the consolidation plans.
The $11 billion merger would have created the world's fourth-largest oil producer. Under the terms of the deal,
Yukos gave Sibneft shareholders $3 billion and a 26.01 percent stake in the new company in exchange for 92 percent of
Sibneft.
The deal was consummated in the heat of tax evasion and fraud investigations into Khodorkovsky and core Yukos
shareholder Platon Lebedev, which the two businessmen say are politically motivated. With both Lebedev and Khodorkovsky
in jail and Yukos facing a multibillion-dollar tax bill, Sibneft said it wanted out of the deal.
Analysts polled Wednesday agreed that the letter was a sign that breakup talks have gone nowhere, despite insistence
from Sibneft that they are on track. "We haven't seen anything to confirm that the demerger is actually
happening," said Ron Smith, an oil and gas analyst at Renaissance Capital.
Sibneft spokesman John Mann said an agreement on the split has been reached and that "nothing has
changed."
Yury Kotler, a spokesman for Yukos' holding company Group Menatep, said he did not think any negotiations have
been held between Sibneft and Menatep shareholders.
Smith said the open letter was aimed at making Sibneft lay its cards on the table. "The side that wants out is
saying, 'Yes, we have an agreement,' and the other side -- which at best is indifferent -- is saying, 'We
have no agreement, there's nothing on the table," he said.
"The way Sibneft is acting right now, Yukos can plan all it wants to continue to take over Sibneft, but nothing
will happen until they let them into the offices," Smith said.
The standoff will only be resolved by Yukos putting on a tough showing that demonstrates it is capable of taking
control of Sibneft, and Kukes' letter was a first step on this path, said Kakha Kiknavelidze, an oil and gas
analyst at Troika Dialog.
"It's not normal for a CEO to make a statement like this, but we're not in a normal situation,"
he said.
Meanwhile, Khodorkovsky praised Putin and took liberals to task in his second letter in three weeks. His first
letter, a 2,000-word essay published in Vedomosti, had carried a similar tone.
"One other thing that is unpleasant but true -- the president is the only institution of power in the country
that is recognized by the people," Khodorkovsky wrote in the letter, which was read to a forum for journalists
organized by Yukos' Open Russia Foundation. "It's like that now in a large extent due to our own
mistakes, and we must know how to reach agreements."
Yevgeny Volk, a political analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said Khodorkovsky was offering an apology to the
Kremlin with the two letters but that he doubted the one-sided correspondence would help.
"If he's after a pardon before the trial, then he won't get it," Volk said.
"Putin hasn't achieved what he wants yet," he said. "He needs to show that the fight with
corruption and abuses in the business sector will be dealt with, and Khodorkovsky's trial must be used as an
example."
Lebedev goes on trial Thursday in a case whose outcome is widely expected to be a sign of what awaits
Khodorkovsky.
.TX-..**********************************************
[The Moscow Times] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
