OAO Rosneft, now the second-biggest Russian oil company, is scheduled to carry out an initial public offering of shares this year. However, parties including billionaire George Soros have objected to the sale on ethical and energy-security grounds. I’m curious as to whether investing Dopers would consider buying the stock.
The objections center on the ownership of Yuganskneftegaz, state-owned Rosneft’s main asset and formerly the principal unit of OAO Yukos Oil Co. Yukos was the biggest Russian oil company before the government socked it with claims for back taxes of around $28 billion and jailed company founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky for fraud. Yukos was forced to sell Yuganskneftegaz at an auction in December 2004 in which the unit was bought for a knockdown price by a then-unknown company that later merged with Rosneft – in other words, the transaction was essentially a covert renationalization, according to critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his energy policy.
Putin, in a nutshell, is building Rosneft and state-run natural-gas company Gazprom into energy giants that can compete with the likes of Exxon Mobil Corp. Output tripled last year at Rosneft – whose chairman, btw, is Putin’s deputy chief of staff – after the purchase of Yukganskneftegaz.
So now Russia’s government plans to float a business whose main unit, according to some people, was more or less stolen from another company that was in no position to do anything about it. I haven’t made up my mind to buy the shares, as I am aware of the ethical issues, but I won’t deny having licked my chops once or twice at the prospect of getting my hands on some of the stock. However, in light of the Russian government’s tightening grip on the country’s energy industry, I also can’t help thinking about this quote attributed to Lenin.
According to the latest reports, Rosneft will raise $8 billon (to be used to repay loans extended for the Yuganskneftegaz purchase) in a stock sale scheduled for Bastille Day. Those reports also say the shares will be listed in New York, whereas earlier only Moscow and London were mentioned, so it seems U.S. Dopers may be able to buy the stock if they can stomach the idea.
Here is a Financial Times article published this week exploring the issue.