05 March 2003 17:18
TNK, Sibneft to split up Slavneft assets
Two of Russia's largest oil groups on Wednesday agreed to unwind their joint investments by divesting a mutual
shareholding and splitting the assets of Slavneft, the former state-controlled oil company that they jointly bought late
last year.
TNK is to buy out Sibneft's 1 per cent stake in its subsidiary Onaco and its 38 per cent of Orenburgneft, in a
transaction that insiders estimated could be valued at $800m-$1bn.
Separately, TNK and Sibneft will share the assets of Slavneft, equally splitting the company's exploration,
production and retail operations, while reallocating its refining capacity between them. The deal brings to a conclusion
negotiations over the division of Slavneft, in which TNK and Sibneft hold 98.5 per cent.
The announcement clarifies the fate of Sibneft's minority stakes in TNK companies, which until recently were set
to be resolved by a swap into an 8.6 per cent stake in TNK International, one of its principal holding companies.
It also clears up one of the remaining uncertainties in the wake of the $6.75bn cash and shares payment offered by BP
last month to Alfa and Access/Renova, the controlling shareholders of TNK, by which they would become 50:50 partners and
combine most of their assets.
Slavneft was ring-fenced outside the BP deal, but the lack of a resolution of the division of the assets and concern
about how to handle Sibneft's minority stake in TNK had raised questions among investors.
BP's offer also helped provide negotiators at Sibneft with a clearer benchmark valuation of TNK's
assets.
Stephen O'Sullivan, of UFG in Moscow, said he expected Sibneft would receive a hefty premium on the $430m it had
paid for its minority stakes in the TNK subsidiaries, from which it earns about $100m in dividends each year.
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