The continuing saga of Yukos, the bankrupt Russian oil giant, just took a mysterious step forward with the sale at government auction of Yukos's most productive facility, Yuganskneftegaz, to a company that nobody has heard of and, until recently, did not exist. Without any known assets or property, the Baikalfinansgroup managed to secure a $1.7 billion loan from Sberbank as down payment for its $9.3 billion bid for the Yuganskneftegaz property, half the property's estimated value. If Baikalfinansgroup can't come up with the rest of the funds in two weeks, Justice Ministry division director Alexander Buksman suggests that Russia will seize Yuganskneftegaz as part of its tax claims against Yukos.
Posted by Warrior Tang at December 20, 2004 09:48 PM
What personally keeps amazing me in this whole debacle is the way that the US courts keep issuing orders as if they're the final authority in this situation.
Posted by: Shad at December 21, 2004 01:51 AMUpdate: BFG sold Yuganskneftegaz to Surgutneftegaz, a private Russian oil company (More). Surgutneftegaz is said to be friendly with the Russian government, and there's a theory that they might sell it to government oil company Gazprom for a tidy profit, but it's such a good enough deal as it stands, I wouldn't be surprised whether they do or not.
With Yukos's best property sold off at about half its estimated market value, the company has less assets to leverage against its huge tax debts. Menatep, the chief shareholder in Yukos, is suing.
Posted by: Warrior Tang at December 24, 2004 06:12 PM