Rosneft commented that the company had secured the loans in order to finance potential acquisitions of core assets in the Russian Federation and abroad. The oil company added that these included Yukos’ assets, which are to be sold at upcoming auctions. According to the BBC, these assets include five Russian oil refineries and the oil unit of Gazprom. The company is also looking to acquire one billion Rosneft shares held by Yukos.
Sergei Bogdanchikov, president of Rosneft, said: Currently, Rosneft’s business mix includes a material disbalance between upstream and downstream – we produce much more oil than we have capacity to refine. Hence, we are interested in potential acquisitions of assets being sold in the Yukos bankruptcy auctions.
The loans were secured through western banks ABN Amro, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. Rosneft commented that the $13 billion loan has a final maturity of up to 12 months, while the $9 billion loan has a final maturity of up to 18 months. The interest rates will be between 0.25% and 0.5%, depending on the final redemption date.
According to the BBC, Yukos’ assets have been valued at around $22 billion by Eduard Rebgun, the receiver. The publication commented that Yukos in fact owes the Russian government $26 billion in back taxes, and added that Yukos has claimed the assets are worth at least enough to cover the company’s debts.
