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part of the New Stream group of Dmitry Mazurov, possibly opening up a valuable asset to the market. Reportedly, VTB has also claimed almost €200mn from the refinery in Russian and UK courts for failing to deliver on supply contracts. In the end of 2018 Antipinsky was shut down due to oil supply shortages. Sberbank could have thrown a RUB23bn lifeline to Antipinsky, but reportedly decided to shut down the refinery. Total debt of the company exceeds $3bn and the problems started when the US dollar denominated loan drawn before 2014 spiked after 2014 due to sanctions and sharp ruble weakening. Reportedly Sberbank already introduced its representatives in the management of the refinery and prepares to resell the asset. Possible buyers for the refinery include the Safmar Group of billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev that has recently been acquiring oil and other energy assets. Russia's second-largest oil company independent Lukoil and Azeri state oil major SOCAR are also among the potential buyers, sources previously told RBC.
SibNeftaGasPererabotka made the first bid to acquire troubled Russian Antipinsky refinery, according to the letter send to Sberbank cited by Vedomosti daily on May 17. As reported by bne IntelliNews, the troubles of Russia's largest independent vertically integrated refinery Antipinsky continue, as Russia's largest bank Sberbank prepares to bankrupt the company, and London court ruled to freeze €225mn worth of assets and oil products of the company over a claim of second-largest VTB Bank. Alexei Shurovsky, member of the board of Antipinsky, controls half of SibNeftaGasPererabotka and the company was only registered in 2018. The company claims it could take over the refinery using its own funds and credit, and is ready to include oil and gas fields in the deal. Total debt of the company exceeds $3bn. The problems started when the US dollar denominated loan drawn before 2014 spiked after 2014 due to sanctions and sharp ruble devaluation that year. Reportedly Sberbank already introduced its representatives in the management of the refinery and was preparing to resell the asset. Possible buyers for the refinery include the Safmar Group of billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev that has recently been acquiring oil and other energy assets. Russia's second-largest oil company independent Lukoil and Azeri state oil major SOCAR are also among the potential buyers, sources previously told RBC.
Renova Group that unites the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg called off the sale of electric utility major T Plus to GazpromEnergoHolding (GEH), a subsidiary of state gas giant Gazprom, due to low valuation, Vedomosti daily reported on May 20 citing the head of GEH Denis Fyodorov. T Plus controls 61 generation facilities in 16 Russian regions with a total capacity of 15.7HW, and was planned to be sold to GEH as part of the anti-sanction rescue package that Vekselberg proposed to the government. However, previous reports claimed that T Plus was significantly undervalued prior to the merger. The two holdings were reportedly valued at RUB40bn-45bn and RUB360bn, respectively, which would make the share of Renova in the merged company only 11%. Unnamed sources told Kommersant business daily in March 2019 that Renova previously valued T Plus at least RUB100bn and aimed at 25% plus one share in the joint venture with GEH. Fyodorov did not disclose the valuation of T Plus, while announcing that Renova pulled out of the negotiations. Renova could be seeing a significant upside premium in T Plus, as it could participate in the state drive to modernise generation assets, and thermal power plants in particular, industry experts now suggested to Vedomosti.
Russia’s second biggest oil producer Lukoil said on May 29 its first-
118 RUSSIA Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com