Friday, 20 July 2012

TNK-BP's Russian shareholders interesting in buying half of BP's stake in the oil firm

MOSCOW - Russian shareholders TNK-BP, the U.K. oil company's joint venture in Russia, said Wednesday that they are interested in buying a 25 percent stake in the company.

TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil producer, is owned on 50-50 basis by BP and AAR, a consortium of Russian billionaire shareholders. The company has been mired in a lengthy dispute after AAR blocked BP's deal with another Russian oil company, Rosneft.

AAR said in a statement on Wednesday that it would like to buy a half of BP's stake, or 25 percent of the company, at what it described "a market price." Based on the oil firm's market valuation at Moscow-based MICEX exchange, a quarter share in TNK-BP is worth some $9.7 billion.

The Russian market was already closed at the time of the announcement.

BP announced on June 1 that it intended to sell some or all of its shares in TNK-BP and under the terms of their, both parties have 90 days to negotiate in good faith, AAR said.

Although mired in boardroom disputes for much of its existence, TNK-BP has generated healthy returns for both parties. Over the past years, TNK-BP's output has accounted for more than a quarter of BP's total global production. The British oil company drew some $3.7 billion in dividends from the venture last year alone, receiving a total of $19 billion since the company's formation in 2003.

"AAR and BP both realize that a fundamental realignment in the ownership of TNK-BP is necessary in order to allow each of the shareholders to achieve its strategic objectives and eliminate the internal contradictions that are preventing further development of TNK-BP," Stan Polovets, chief executive of AAR, said in a statement.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/world/162878116.html

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