MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. The oil company Rosneft has closed the acquisition deal controlling stake(50.08% of shares) of the state company Bashneft, which went to the company under the leadership of Igor Sechin for 329.7 billion rubles. The deal was implemented as part of a large-scale program of privatization of state assets, which the authorities undertook due to the growing budget deficit.

The money from the deal has already gone to the budget. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this yesterday. “As far as I know, Rosneft has already transferred all funds for the acquired Bashneft company,” the president said during a meeting with the government.

Criticism and government reaction

The government resisted the deal for some time. For example, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich insisted that in fact one state company is buying another, which cannot in any way be considered privatization. Presidential aide Andrei Belousov shared a similar opinion. The dispute was put to rest by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who, during the investment forum in Sochi, said that the government would allow Rosneft to be privatized.

Synergistic effect

As part of the privatization program, the privatization of the stake and Rosneft itself is provided in the amount of 19.5% of the company's stake. Representatives of Rosneft, as well as many analysts, noted that the purchase of Bashneft by Rosneft would create a synergistic effect that would allow Rosneft itself to sell its share at a higher price in the future.

This was discussed, in particular, by the press secretary and vice president of Rosneft, Mikhail Leontyev, who noted that since the announcement of the sale of Bashneft, the company's quotes have increased by an average of 7%.

“We believe that such a market reaction confirms our estimates and that of analysts of the synergistic effect from this transaction. We continue to believe that the growth potential of the company’s capitalization is significant,” Leontyev noted earlier.

A similar position was expressed at the VTB investment forum “Russia Calling!” held on October 12. Vladimir Putin, who was a little surprised by the government’s final decision to admit Rosneft to privatization.

“You know, it may seem strange to you, I myself was a little surprised by this position of the government, but this is really the position of the government of the Russian Federation, primarily of its financial and economic bloc,” the president said.

The president himself also agrees that the merger of Bashneft and Rosneft will have a synergistic effect for the latter, since the capitalization of the merged company will increase sharply and Rosneft will be able to “recoup” the purchase by selling its own shares as part of privatization.

“After the acquisition of Bashneft and the subsequent sale of a large stake - 19.5% of Rosneft itself, a so-called synergistic effect occurs, that is, the cost of this 19.5% of Rosneft itself increases significantly and Rosneft has the opportunity not only to recapture , excuse the bad manners, the small premium that she gives to the state for the acquisition of Bashneft, but it is also profitable to sell her own stake,” the president said.

Market reaction

Ministry economic development(MED), which oversees privatization through the Federal Property Management Agency, has already proposed a reassessment of Rosneft's capitalization. The head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Alexey Ulyukaev, noted that the authorities can build on the market value of the company’s quotes. At trading on Thursday, Rosneft shares grew by 0.17% and reached 363.75 rubles. per share. The recorded maximum during trading at 11.20 Moscow time was 365.7 rubles, the minimum was 361.65 rubles.

Against the backdrop of the deal, the shares of Rosneft’s subsidiary, Bashneft, are also growing. By 11.20 Moscow time, the price of Bashneft shares grew by 0.38% and amounted to 3,137 rubles. The recorded maximum during trading was 3,157 rubles, the minimum was 3,124 rubles.

Change of top management

On Thursday it became known that Rosneft is changing the composition of the board of Bashneft. Now the board of the Bashkir company includes seven top managers of Rosneft: Natalia Mincheva, Andrey Sudakov, Andrey Lazeev, Denis Nyrkov, Rostislav Latysh, Sergey Lobachev and Andrey Shishkin, who has been appointed president of Bashneft.

The Rosneft message also announced an extraordinary meeting of Bashneft shareholders, which is to be held on December 16, 2016. At the meeting, the early termination of the powers of the board of directors will be discussed, its quantitative composition will be determined and new members of the board of directors will be elected.

Contenders

Before the announcement of Rosneft's participation in privatization, many called Lukoil the favorite for Bashneft. In addition to Lukoil, the Independent Oil and Gas Company (NNK) and Tatneftegaz announced their desire to buy out the state stake in Bashneft. Moreover, according to data, even an Australian businessman with Russian roots, Vladimir Dzhamirze, announced his readiness to buy out Bashneft.

Lukoil also laid claim to Bashneft because the company had joint projects with the Bashkir company. The head of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, expressed confidence that effective cooperation will continue after the purchase of Bashneft by Rosneft.

"No, of course. Rosneft and I have joint ventures both in Azov and the Caspian Sea. We never had any questions. I hope it will be the same here,” Alekperov said during the “Russia Calling!” forum.

Vice President of Lukoil Leonid Fedun assured that the company will not withdraw from joint projects that were concluded with Bashneft before the acquisition of the company by Rosneft.

Bashneft has changed its controlling shareholder for the fourth time. In 2003, shares of key enterprises of the fuel and energy complex of Bashkortostan were purchased by seven limited liability companies created by Ural Rakhimov, the son of the then head of the region. In 2009, Rakhimov Jr. ceded these shares to AFK Sistema, controlled by Vladimir Yevtushenkov. The deal was valued at $2.5 billion. Sistema settled with Ural Rakhimov by receiving a loan from VTB. After Bashneft came under the control of Yevtushenkov, the Ufa oil company sharply increased the payment of dividends, the lion's share of which went to the accounts of enterprises affiliated with AFK Sistema, which allowed it to repay the VTB loan ahead of schedule.

But in September 2014, Vladimir Yevtushenkov became a defendant in a criminal case regarding the theft of shares of enterprises included in the fuel and energy complex of Bashkortostan, and on October 30, 2014 Arbitration Court Moscow, at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office, decided to seize 71.6% of the shares of Bashneft from AFK Sistema and its subsidiary, the company Sistema Invest, and return this asset to state property (soon the preventive measure was changed from Yevtushenkov to “house arrest” on “undertaking not to leave”, and on January 16, 2016, the criminal case against the businessman was completely closed - “due to the lack of corpus delicti”).

"Documents may be destroyed"

Now the history of Bashneft is taking another sharp turn. On Wednesday, October 12, the Ufa oil company came under the control of Rosneft, which bought 50.08% of the shares of Bashneft owned by the state for 329.7 billion rubles. The very next day, October 13, the powers of Alexander Korsik, who had headed Bashneft since April 2011, were terminated. Andrei Shishkin, who until last Thursday worked as vice president of Rosneft, was appointed the new head of the company.

On the same day, the process of “transferring business” to the new owner began. The procedure turned out to be more like a special operation. People in plainclothes appeared at the Bashneft offices in Moscow and Ufa, strengthened security and access control, turned off the Internet and began to confiscate documents. On Thursday evening, RIA Novosti quoted a source in the Ufa office of Bashneft: “As we understand, they appeared so suddenly to prevent the destruction of any financial documents.”

The new owner’s fears that some documents related to Bashneft’s financial and economic activities may be destroyed are not groundless. Six months ago, on April 19, 2016, in a journalistic investigation “You can enter the same pipe twice” in Novaya Gazeta, I talked about a whole series of Bashneft contracts for the supply of both finished products, and crude oil. These contracts worth hundreds of billions of rubles gave grounds for the assumption that the company was seriously contracted, that even the strategic raw materials not yet extracted by Bashneft were sold out for years to come.

I have been collecting information for the April publication for several months. I flew on a business trip to Ufa, met in person or recorded a dozen interviews over the phone. And many of my interlocutors expressed an idea figuratively formed by one of the middle managers of Bashneft, who compared the work of an oil company with a juice production plant that has an orchard, but the plant sells all the apples collected in its own orchard, and with the proceeds buys apples in a neighboring area. At the same time, he sells his apples cheaper than he buys them from his neighbors...

For example, in January 2016, Bashneft entered into a contract worth 81 billion rubles for the supply of crude oil to the offshore oil trader Concept Oil Services Limited, registered in Hong Kong. In 2013, Bashneft already signed a similar agreement with this newcomer to the oil market. And immediately in the amount of $2.3 billion. Even then, there was talk that Concept Oil Services Limited might be involved with officials from the Ministry of Energy, who lobbied for a deal with a newcomer to the oil market, on terms much more favorable to the Hong Kong company than to the Russian one.

Business on gaskets

The contracts with LLC LUKOIL-Rezervnefteprodukt look no less strange. When Bashneft-Polyus LLC, a subsidiary of the Ufa company, practically all the oil produced at the Trebs and Titov field in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug Arkhangelsk region, sold by LLC LUKOIL-Rezervnefteprodukt. And then it buys oil from it to load its own refineries.

At the same time, in 2015, “gaskets” also appeared in the chain “Bashneft-Polyus” - “LUKOIL-Rezervnefteprodukt” - “Bashneft”. These are the companies Exim Group (with which contracts worth 85 billion rubles were concluded), Arctic Bunker (85 billion rubles), Trubond Limited (98.5 billion rubles), Minco Enterprise Limited and Trade Nafta (83 billion rubles). All these contracts were signed in November 2014, just before the return of Bashneft shares to state ownership. And judging by the expert opinion of specialists from the State Oil and Gas Institution named after. Gubkina (the document is available to the editors), these contracts were not concluded on market conditions and could damage the economic interests of Bashneft.

About a week after the publication of the publication “You can enter the same pipe twice,” the editor received a letter from businessman Evgeny Mulyukov, who offered to provide information and documents explaining the details of the contracts for the supply of oil and petroleum products concluded by Bashneft in November 2014 .

I admit that I was interested in Mulyukov’s proposal, but not enough to adjust my plans and immediately continue a journalistic investigation into the activities of Bashneft. First of all, because there was not the slightest desire to get involved in the dispute between “economic entities.” The fact is that, having made inquiries, I found out that Evgeny Mulyukov is one of the defendants in the litigation with his former partner, businessman Mikhail Golub, which has been dragging on for several years in the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands).

But soon the editor received a letter from lawyer Elena Demina, who, in the interests of her client Mikhail Golub, demanded that the investigation “You can enter the same pipe twice” be removed from the Novaya website and that a refutation of the information “not true” be published.

I had to return to the topic of Bashneft.

I wrote a letter to lawyer Elena Demina with a request to arrange an interview with Mikhail Golub. He honestly warned that he made a similar request to his opponent, Evgeniy Mulyukov. But Demina replied that she considered my attention to the Dove “too close” and that “...on at the moment I can be...useful only in discussing the issue of deleting your article and publishing a refutation of false and defamatory information about my principal.”

The editors refused to delete the publication. Although it provided Mikhail Golub with the opportunity to exercise the “right of reply” provided for by the legislation regulating the activities of the media.

But this was not enough for Dove. The businessman demanded to pay him 30 million rubles, filing a claim with the Moscow Arbitration Court to recover half of this amount from the editorial office. Novaya Gazeta"and the same amount from me as the author of the publication "You can enter the same pipe twice."

Comparative analysis

The information presented by Golub in the lawsuit filed in the Russian court differs sharply from the testimony given by him, but in courts outside Russia.

For example, in a lawsuit filed with the Moscow Arbitration Court and a preliminary hearing for which is scheduled for October 26, Golub argues that the publication of Novaya “calls into question the opinion of the plaintiff as a person with an impeccable reputation. The plaintiff has a positive image..."

But outside of Russia, Mikhail Golub’s reputation is not so impeccable. For example, long before the publication of Novaya Gazeta, on August 6, 2015, a court order was issued “to seize the property/assets” of Golub. And the businessman, having appealed this court document, regarded it as significantly complicating his commercial activities.

Let me emphasize: I learned about Mikhail Golub’s litigation outside Russia after the publication of the publication “You can enter the same pipe twice.” Evgeny Mulyukov and his Russian lawyer Fyodor Trusov, who, unlike Mikhail Golub and his representative Elena Demina, did not shy away from being interviewed “under a dictaphone recording.”

And it was Mulyukov who told me that “just before the return of the oil company to state ownership, with companies controlled by Golub, Bashneft concluded a number of “onerous contracts” worth more than 400 billion rubles.”

“From May 23 to May 30, 2015, a court hearing was held at the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) as part of the process initiated by Mikhail Golub,” Mulyukov said. — During the cross-examination of Golub and top managers (a number of companies. — THEM.) they were forced to admit that it was Dove who controlled all these companies.

According to Mulyukov, the LCIA has not yet made a final court decision, and he does not yet have the right to disclose all the information announced during the court hearing.

Evgeny Mulyukov refers to the confidentiality of trials taking place outside Russia. But we managed to obtain written testimony from Mikhail Golub, which he sent to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court.

“I intend to give this testimony as an affidavit given under oath...” writes Golub and then, on 152 typewritten pages, provides information that differs from what he provided in the lawsuit filed with the Moscow Arbitration Court against Novaya Gazeta "and me as the author of the publication "You can enter the same pipe twice."

In the Russian lawsuit, Golub writes that “... the plaintiff has no relation to Exim Group LLC.” The plaintiff is also not a member of Arctic Bunker LLC. In addition, the plaintiff does not control the companies Trubond Limited, Minco Enterprise Limited, which are discussed in the article.” And in the written testimony to the foreigner, the court describes in detail what kind of relationship he has with these companies, how exclusive contracts with LUKOIL and Bashneft were concluded through his contacts.

For example, in paragraphs 24-29, Golub complains that on November 24, 2014, the President of Russia signed the “Law on Deoffshorization,” requiring Russian citizens with shares in “controlled investment companies” (CICs) to declare their participation in these companies, and that the profits of such companies “shall be considered the taxable profits of a Russian tax resident.” To avoid having to pay taxes in Russia, Golub and his wife decided to withdraw from the founders of the offshore company that owns the company Trubond Limited. And on December 24, 2014, the asset was transferred to Golub’s daughter, Yana Eisner, who is not a tax resident of Russia. I note that Bashneft’s contract with Trubond Limited for 98.5 billion rubles was signed at the end of November 2014, when even formally the company was controlled by Mikhail Golub and his wife.

About the Trade Nafta company, which entered into a contract with Bashneft for 83 billion rubles, Mikhail Golub says that he acquired 50% of this company back in March 2003, and on December 27, 2004 he increased his share in the authorized capital of the company to 80%.

About the Arctic Bunker company, Golub writes: “I became a member of Arctic Bunker on September 27, 2014 with a minority share of 47.5%,” that is, two months before this company entered into a contract with Bashneft. by 85 billion rubles.

In written testimony to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Mikhail Golub wrote about his relationships with top managers of Bashneft and LUKOIL. For example, that he has known the ex-head of the Ufa oil company Alexander Korsik for more than 15 years. And it was Corsik who introduced Golub to other managers who were running Bashneft at that time.

These acquaintances were also useful in business. Golub writes: “Through my contacts, Minko entered into an exclusive agreement with LUKOIL for the transshipment of straight-run gasoline to its terminals in Vysotsk. This led to Minco receiving tenders and concluding a long-term agreement with Bashneft.

It should be noted here that at first there was an agreement on transshipment of products to terminals in Vysotsk and only then a contract with Bashneft. And the terminals on Vysotsky Island in the Vyborg region Leningrad region- This is actually the gateway to the European petroleum products market. A naive question: couldn’t Bashneft and LUKOIL directly enter into a cooperation agreement?

All this somewhat “strange” financial and economic activity of Bashneft and the contracts that we wrote about in the April publication and which we learned about from Evgeny Mulyukov and his representative Fyodor Trusov could not but interest the new owner. How interested several State Duma deputies were, who sent parliamentary inquiries to the Prosecutor General of Russia. For example, Army General Mikhail Moiseev, a copy of whose address to Yuri Chaika is available in the editorial office. And therefore I was not at all surprised by the nature of the “transfer of affairs” to the new owner, Rosneft, more like a sudden special operation.

The big news of the last few hours: the state oil corporation Rosneft has agreed to buy out the company TNK-BP from its shareholders.

Oil is always politics. Big oil means big politics. And after the purchase, Rosneft will become the world's largest company in terms of reserves and production.

First, let’s figure out who owned the property purchased by Rosneft. TNK-BP.

This company was established in 2003.

This is what I wrote about five years ago in this book: “We should admire the resilience of the proud Britons. They really want to stay on our oil and gas market, they really want to influence it, and through this influence foreign policy Russia. But it won't work. The difficulties for TNK-BP did not end there. And sooner or later, the British oil monopoly will be squeezed out of Russia, and its oil assets will be sold to a Russian company. “This is bad for us, bad for the company and, of course, very bad for Russia,” Peter Sutherland, chairman of the board of the British oil giant, assesses the developing events. But the author of this book thinks that, on the contrary, it’s good. Very good. Control over the main resource of the planet, over the main resource of his country in the hands of his government - is it good or bad? Answer this question yourself."

And finally the British are being squeezed out of TNK-BP. They squeeze it out gently, Putin-style. But persistently and steadily. Private company TNK-BP is being fully acquired from its shareholders state company"Rosneft".

“Earlier today it became known that the Rosneft oil company is purchasing 100% of TNK-BP shares from the AAR consortium and the British oil company BP. The signing of the corresponding agreement was announced by the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin. The total transaction amount was $61 billion."

Does this mean that control over most of our mineral resources is returning to hands? Russian state? Yes, that's true.

Let's understand the confusing scheme of buying and selling oil assets.

First, let's make sure that Rosneft is really a state company.

We go to the company’s website, read: http://www.rosneft.ru/Investors/structure/share_capital/

Share capital structure

Composition of shareholders (shareholders) of OJSC NK Rosneft, owning more than 1% authorized capital Companies as of October 1, 2012

The state corporation reported that they closed the deal and transferred almost 330 billion rubles to the budget. This was confirmed by the Ministry of Economic Development. A few hours earlier, President Vladimir Putin commented on the deal. How did events develop and predictions come true?

From October 12, 2016, when talking about Bashneft, we mean Rosneft. The state corporation closed the deal and transferred the money to the treasury. The ruble did not react. Although there were concerns among analysts that large privatization transactions could lead to a fall in the national currency, because the Central Bank would allegedly buy dollars from Rosneft, which would provoke a collapse. But, apparently, the state-owned company had been preparing for the purchase for a long time and was collecting the required amount. This was confirmed by President and Chairman of the Board of VTB Andrey Kostin in an exclusive interview with Business FM.

President and Chairman of the Board of VTB Bank“We know this situation a little from the inside, I can say that Rosneft has long accumulated money, its own funds in rubles. And they didn’t make any exchanges on the last day, in the minute before the deal was completed, and you see that the deal is completed. There were no market fluctuations.”

It is unlikely that anyone will know how the negotiations took place and how the deal was prepared, but in the public sphere everything happened quickly. The government published a directive on Rosneft's purchase of Bashneft on October 6. And the biggest deal of the year so far took less than a week. There was no competition. At the VTB Capital forum “Russia Calling”, Vladimir Putin commented on the deal.

president Russian Federation “It may seem strange to you, I myself was a little surprised by this position of the government, but this is really the position of the government of the Russian Federation, primarily its financial and economic bloc. "Rosneft offered the highest price of 330 billion rubles."

As for the position of the Cabinet of Ministers, it has apparently changed. For example, until recently the Ministry of Economic Development called Rosneft an improper buyer. But the other day the department already talked about the synergistic effect that this deal will provide. After all, after Bashneft, they will also sell a stake in Rosneft, and it now costs more. Vladimir Putin also recalled this effect at the forum, Rosneft Vice President Mikhail Leontyev noted in an interview with Business FM.

press secretary and vice president of Rosneft“The shares began to grow sharply immediately after the promulgation of the government decree on the privatization of Bashneft, grew quite sharply for two days and reached a certain temporary plateau and unexpectedly began to grow, again continued to grow in connection with the president’s remark that this transaction would give a synergistic effect and reflect on the company's capitalization."

Putin, commenting on the sale of Bashneft, also found words for the losers. First of all, for LUKOIL, which was once considered the main contender. The head of state promised to support others oil companies licenses. By the way, there is an opinion that the history of the change of ownership of Bashneft began after the purchase of a license for the promising field by Trebs and Titov 6 years ago. And the first hot phase was in 2014, when Vladimir Yevtushenkov returned Bashneft to the state after being under house arrest. Then Interfax quoted Igor Sechin: “The fact that Rosneft is interested in the situation is a myth.” And political scientists on Business FM suggested discussing these words later, when it becomes known new owner"Bashneft". The moment has come.

MOSCOW, October 12 – RIA Novosti/Prime. The Ministry of Economic Development on Wednesday announced the completion of a deal that was accompanied by a large number of controversial comments - Rosneft bought a 50.0755% stake in Bashneft for 329.7 billion rubles and immediately transferred the funds to Treasury accounts.

During the summer, the authorities actively discussed the implementation of the Bashneft package. It was assumed that in September-October it would be possible to sell the state-owned stake of 50.08% of shares, which was valued at 297-315 billion rubles. However, in August they announced the suspension of all procedures - it was decided to postpone this deal and first privatize the stake in Rosneft.

However, on September 30, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov announced the resumption of the Bashneft privatization procedure. At the same time, a legally binding proposal for the transaction from Rosneft was submitted. It took the company less than two weeks to acquire the Bashkir asset. At the same time, it did not resort to borrowed funds and did not carry out special currency conversion.

Next up is the privatization of Rosneft, and the company itself may well take part in the deal.

"There is money in the company's accounts, and additional funds from the market, from the internal Russian financial market, to complete all operations, including the sale (of Bashneft - ed.), and if necessary, the acquisition or repurchase of shares of Rosneft itself, the company will not need. All funds are in the accounts and available, and can be used without harming current operations, without harming the current cash flow,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

Long preparation

Rosneft submitted an application to participate in the purchase of the Bashkir company back in the summer. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich then said that Rosneft cannot qualify for participation in the deal, and this official position government.

The head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Alexey Ulyukaev, also noted that Rosneft’s participation in the privatization of the Bashkir company is inappropriate. The head of the Ministry of Energy, Alexander Novak, agreed with him.

Despite the government's position, Rosneft stated that it does not intend to refuse to participate in the privatization of Bashneft, the head of the company, Igor Sechin, told the Vedomosti newspaper in early September. He also noted that the company conducted relevant correspondence with the government.

Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Bloomberg that the purchase of Bashneft by Rosneft was not best option, but from a budget point of view it is important who will give more money.

It turned out that Rosneft was able to pay more money. Russian Foundation direct investment (RDIF) and its partners decided not to participate in the privatization of Bashneft, since the amount requested for the state-owned stake in the company was significantly higher than the initial estimate, the head of the fund, Kirill Dmitriev, previously told RIA Novosti. The assessment of the controlling stake in Bashneft, made earlier by EY, was 297-315 billion rubles.

Lukoil, which was named in the summer as one of the main contenders for the purchase of the state stake in Bashneft, also refused to participate in privatization due to the high price of the asset.

The Ministry of Economic Development reported that, in addition to Rosneft, only one other company, whose name the ministry did not name, made a legally binding offer to purchase the state stake in Bashneft. “Only Rosneft made the best (offer) - higher than the value of the appraiser,” Ulyukaev said. According to him, Rosneft’s price offer turned out to be at a significant premium to the current market value of the shares: 20.6% to the closing price of trading on September 30.

Among the Russian companies and funds that showed interest in the privatization of the state stake in Bashneft, Tatneft, the Antipinsky Oil Refinery and NNK were also previously named.

The Russian President on Wednesday assured oil companies that the authorities will support them, if not in this deal, then in other areas.

Synergy and benefits

Representatives Russian authorities and Rosneft have unanimously spoken over the past few days about the great synergistic effect that will result from the purchase of Bashneft by a company with state participation.

According to Ulyukaev, this effect is estimated at 150-180 billion rubles due to savings in oil refining.

“The consultant for Rosneft, Intesa Bank, argued the synergy as follows: first of all, this is refining, because already part of the crude oil produced by Rosneft is processed by Bashneft, there is an optimization of oil flows, and serious savings arise. Second important aspect- the synergy that arises from the integrated development of fields, which now belong to Rosneft and Bashneft,” the Ministry of Economic Development said in a statement.

According to Putin, “after the acquisition of Bashneft and the subsequent sale of a large stake, 19.5%, a synergistic effect occurs in Rosneft itself. That is, the value of this 19.5% of Rosneft itself increases significantly.”

Rosneft itself sees advantages for itself in entering new regions for the production and supply of oil and petroleum products, in increasing the volume of production of Rosneft liquid hydrocarbons by 10% and the volume of oil refining by 20%. Significant synergistic potential is also expected from optimizing mutual oil supplies, transport and logistics costs, reducing the cost of drilling services, sharing the infrastructure of production assets, modern technologies and know-how, the company said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Bashneft did not comment on the deal today.

The real scale of the synergy effect remains to be seen, but today Rosneft shares rose in price by 0.3%, Bashneft ordinary shares by 1.3%, and preferred shares by 0.6%, while the MICEX index was falling. It was also possible to implement the main, according to the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Andrei Belousov, motive for the deal - quickly receiving money into the budget this year.

Privatization of Rosneft

“Rosneft has the opportunity not only to “recoup”, excuse the bad manners, the small premium that it gives to the state when acquiring Bashneft, but also to profitably sell its own stake,” Putin said today.

The Ministry of Economic Development reported on Wednesday that, together with JSC Rosneftegaz, it is completing preparatory measures for the alienation of a 19.5% stake in Rosneft for the implementation of the transaction in 2016.

Ulyukaev noted that the procedure for privatizing 19.5% of Rosneft does not yet provide for the purchase of its shares from Rosneftegaz. However, he did not express his position regarding a possible buyback of Rosneft. According to him, after the purchase of Bashneft, either a new valuation of Rosneft for the purpose of privatization or a reference to stock exchange quotes is possible.

Rosneft is ready to buy back its shares from Rosneftegaz under favorable conditions, but will wait for the government’s decision on the privatization scheme, Rosneft press secretary Mikhail Leontyev said in an interview with Kommersant FM.

“We are ready to implement the scheme that the government will propose; within the framework of this scheme, we, for our part, are interested in our shares. Our shares have enormous growth potential. And we are not a seller. If the seller chooses another investor, then he has his own reasons for this ", he said.

The head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, noted that the company will take into account the interests of its shareholders when making decisions on repurchasing its own shares from Rosneftegaz. Robert Dudley, head of BP, which is a shareholder of Rosneft, said that he is not against the buy back mechanism. “Buying your own shares, if (the company - ed.) considers it a good investment, is always a good thing,” he said.

The Ministry of Economic Development is based on the completion of the transaction for the sale of 19.5% of Rosneft shares this year. Investors from India and Japan are showing interest, but so far there have been no formal requests.

Ulyukaev expressed confidence that Rosneftegaz would transfer all proceeds from the privatization of Rosneft to the budget. The Ministry of Finance also counts on this. “The goal is that we receive funds from privatization this year,” said Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev.

Shuvalov previously stated that the state intends to gain more than 1 trillion rubles from the sale of both assets - Bashneft and Rosneft.