CEO expects Rosneft’s acquisition of Essar Oil to close soon

BOCHAROV RUCHEI, Sochi, May 17 (PRIME) -- Igor Sechin, CEO of Russian oil major Rosneft, hopes that the company’s acquisition of Indian refinery Essar Oil will be closed soon, Sechin told reporters on Wednesday.

“Everything will be good. There is a group of participants, there are banks there, and we have to coordinate procedures with all of them. This is just the finishing of procedures. I think it will happen rather fast,” he said, adding that the deal requires an antimonopoly decision and other authorization from different state bodies. “It is a difficult deal, but everything will be OK. It is a good project.”

Rosneft will acquire a 49% stake in Essar Oil and another 49% will be shared between commodities trader Trafigura and Russian private investment group United Capital Partners on the basis of Essar Oil valuation of U.S. $12.9 billion.

On May 11, Reuters reported citing sources that the closure of the deal may be delayed due to the lack of approval of six creditors of Essar, and that state banks are holding about U.S. $500 million of debt of the refinery. An Essar representative told Reuters then that the company was working on receiving approvals and hoped that the deal will be closed in several coming weeks.

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