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March 15, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
Shares of Russian refinery Nizhnekamskneftekhim skyrocket on record dividend
Petrochemicals company and the largest producer of synthetic rubber in Russia Nizhnekamskneftekhim (NKNH) saw its stock price skyrocket after the board recommended paying 150% of net profit in dividend for
2018, making a total payout of RUB36.5bn ($554mn), Vedomosti daily said on March 11 citing the announcement of the company.
NKNH's shares on Moscow Exchange took off following the announcement, 60% in the session, to RUB100 per share and rebounded to RUB90 per share on March 11 (still well above RUB76 per share peak value of December 2016).
The company paid 30% of Russian Accounting Standard (RAS) profit in 2016 and skipped dividend
payment in 2016-2017 altogether. The company has accumulated RUB138bn of non-distributed profit, now directed to dividend payments.
The company is one of the major petrochemical players in Russia. NKNH is controlled by TAIF Group that consolidates industrial assets in
the Tatarstan Republic and holds 81.16% in the company.
NKNH plans to expand its refining capacity in two stages by 2023 and 2027, with total investment
of RUB234bn planned to eventually more than double the revenues (RUB189bn under RAS in 2018). Previously €807 was raised for the project from Deutsche Bank and RUB40bn on the domestic market.
Russian RDIF still looking for 30% in Eurasian Drilling Company IntelliNews Pro
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) is still looking to increase its stake in the oil servicing major Eurasian Drilling Company (EDC) from 16.1% to 30% after an acquisition deal with US oilfield service Schlumberger failed earlier this year, Vedomosti daily said on March 10 citing unnamed sources.
The report not only confirms that RDIF will seek to consolidate the stake in EDC, possibly with the help of the UAE's Mubdala or Saudi Aramco, but also claims the fund tried to obstruct the deal with Schlumberger by pressuring Russian watchdogs.
EDC was created on the basis of Lukoil Drilling and is one of the largest oil service companies in Russia. Its main owners are Alexander Dzhaparidze and the first president of Rosneft, Alexander Putilov.
In July 2017, Schlumberger agreed to buy a 51% stake in EDC. Experts estimated the value of the transaction at that time at $1.9bn. Schlumberger had been trying to close the deal for 1.5 years but could never get the Federal Antimonopoly Services (FAS) to sign off on the acquisition amid deteriorating US-Russia relations and sanctions. The company finally withdrew its bid from FAS in February 2019.
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