Bashneft’s selling is on the agenda again
Rosneft can compete for the Bashneft's stake purchasing, according to the Ministry of Economic Development. The government's share in the regional oil producer is prepared to be sold within the national privatisation programme. Although earlier it was planned to postpone the deal, now the talks resumed.
Bashneft's privatisation is back on track, considers Bloomberg due to a recent commentary of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation. Oksana Tarasenko, the head of the Ministry's Corporate Governance Department, stated that 'from a legal perspective, Rosneft's participation in Bashneft's privatisation is possible,' and added that 'the most important thing for the government is a bidding war for a valuable asset, having a maximum possible reward for it.'
50.08 per cent of Bashneft is among the state assets supposed to be sold this year. The regional oil company was nationalised in 2014 after a high-profile case against Vladimir Yevtushenkov and his AFK Sistema. It produces around 425,000 barrels a day, which is about 4 percent of the national output. The deal is evaluated at 315 billion rubles and is supposed to be the largest since 2006.
Bashneft's feasible sale has been under discussion since the beginning of 2016, but earlier in August, according to the words of the Prime Minister of Russia's spokesperson Natalya Timakova, the deal was postponed: 'The Prime Minister made a decision, which was approved by President, to put the Bashneft privatisation off.' It was also supposed that state-controlled companies should not participate in the privatisation process, but Rosneft still has chances because almost 20 per cent of its shares belongs to BP Plc.
Rosneft is not the only interested party: Lukoil PJSC, Independent Petroleum Co., Russian Direct Investment Fund, Tatneft PJSC, Igor Yusufov's Fund Energy and Tatneftegaz are among the potential bidders along with three foreign funds. However, Andrey Polischuk, an analyst at Raiffeisen Bank in Moscow, says 'perhaps only Rosneft was ready to pay that much, but it doesn't suit everyone as a bidder and probably this issue has yet to be discussed by the government.'
The Russian privatisation programme is aiming to compensate the budget's deficit, and plans to gain as much as 1 trillion rubles ($16 billion) by 2016. In July 2016, the government sold its 10.9 per cent stake in the world's largest rough diamond producer Alrosa PJSC (meanwhile, 33 per cent still remain under the state control). The programme includes also Sovcomflot OJSC shipping as well as Rosneft PJSC itself (the government plans to sell its 19.5 per cent stake at the value of 700 billion rubles). But taking into account rising oil prices and Russian market activity, the bargains can be delayed as well.