31 May 2004 21:14
Russian court ruling said to leave Yukos with no hope of acquiring Sibneft
MOSCOW, May 31 (Prime-TASS) - The appeals section of the Arbitration Court of the city of Moscow upheld the
court's 1 March decision to cancel an additional share issue of the Russian oil major Yukos.
The issue of 463.5m shares, worth an estimated 9bn dollars and to be swapped for a stake in another Russian oil major
Sibneft, was registered on 22 July 2003, by Russia's Federal Securities Commission.
The court ruled that the Federal Service for Financial Markets, a successor agency, should cancel the share issue
within five days.
On 1 March, the court ruled that the Federal Securities Commission should cancel Yukos' share issue following a
suit filed by Cyprus-based companies Nimegan Trading Ltd. and N. P. Gemini Holdings Ltd.
The companies claim that Yukos has committed technical violations, such as failing to disclose its consolidated
financial statements as well as calculating the issue's share price incorrectly.
The court's decision effectively puts an end to Yukos' 13bn-dollar attempt to acquire Sibneft.
Yukos carried out its additional share issue to swap its own shares for Sibneft shares as part of the Yukos-Sibneft
merger deal, announced on 22 April 2003.
Although Yukos has on paper owned 92 per cent of Sibneft since last autumn, when the deal was completed, it has never
been able to establish operational control.
As a result of Monday's [31 May] decision, 57 per cent of Sibneft's shares will be returned to Millhouse
Capital, Sibneft's previous owner, which will, in turn, see its stake in Yukos fall from 26 per cent to 9 per cent.
Yukos' stake in Sibneft will drop from 92 per cent to 35 per cent.
On 28 November, 2003 Sibneft announced that the merger would not go ahead and the parties started de-merger talks,
while Yukos' management continued unsuccessful attempts to impose control over Sibneft.
On 2 February, representatives of the core shareholders of Yukos and Sibneft signed a protocol on the execution of a
demerger transaction for the two companies.
[Prime-TASS news agency] |
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