Court date: for Yukos
Yukos snubs Gazprom move
Stricken Russian oil producer Yukos said today it would not sell any assets before its bankruptcy court hearing on 1 August, rejecting an advance from gas giant Gazprom.
"It would be inappropriate and without benefit to the company for any last minute deals to be struck in relation to the sale of the company's assets prior to the court hearing," Yukos said in a statement.
Yesterday the company's creditors voted to ask the court to declare the company bankrupt after rejecting a management survival plan. They overwhelmingly backed a proposal by Yukos' court-appointed administrator, Eduard Rebgun, to ask the court to put the company into receivership, triggering liquidation.
Russia's tax office, which crushed Yukos with $33 billion in back-tax claims, is the top creditor, with state-run producer Rosneft second in the queue to gain from liquidation.
Rosneft bought Yukos' core production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, in 2004, trebling its output and helping to seal Yukos' demise. Bankruptcy means Yukos' assets, including a stake in Yugansk, five refineries and two production units may be auctioned off.
"We presume the state will want the near 10% of Rosneft that Yukos was due to receive in exchange for its minority in Yugansk," Roman Elagin at Renaissance Capital told Reuters.
"Rosneft will be keen to secure refining capacity, and Yukos' substantial upstream assets, including very attractive gas and East Siberian resources."
Yukos said Gazprom had tried to pre-empt the auctions by negotiating a quick sale of the company's 20% stake in its oil subsidiary Gazprom Neft .
Yukos spokeswoman Claire Davidson said Gazprom had also mentioned other assets but that there had never been any formal talks about these.
Meanwhile, a report published today in Moscow business newspaper Vedomosti said Gazprom also wanted Yukos' 49% in Slovak pipeline outfit Transpetrol and majority stakes in the Angarsk refinery and ArcticGaz.
Rebgun said he had not been asked to approve any purchases of Yukos assets by Gazprom. "Nobody has come to me with these questions," he told Reuters.
Although Gazprom's bid for assets seems to have failed for now, analysts said there could still be a bidding battle.
"The appearance of Gazprom as a serious contender for Yukos' assets signals that real competition for them is likely among the Russian oil and gas majors," Deutsche UFG said in a research note.
But Brian Zimbler, partner at US law firm Leboeuf, Lamb, Greene and Macrae in Moscow, said there would be no "scramble for assets".
"It's our understanding that things have been worked out between Rosneft and Gazprom," he said.
If the court agrees, Rebgun will declare Yukos bankrupt and creditors will have two months to submit claims. Rebgun will hire an independent appraiser to value the assets and then submit the terms of sale to the creditors' committee.
It then has two months to decide on his recommendations before Rebgun begins selling the assets at open auction.
Troika Dialog brokerage also said there was scope to impose new management and take a variety of steps, including issuing equity, to restore the company to solvency.
Lawyer Zimbler said Rebgun had a lot of discretion in the process and he expected no surprises.
"This has all been planned in advance. It's all going according to the script," he said. "Rosneft and the government, as the major creditors, will be driving this process".