Report: Kudrin says Rosneft privatization deal non-transparent

SOCHI, Feb 28 (PRIME) -- A deal to sell a Russian government’s 19.5% stake in oil major Rosneft to a consortium of Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) was not transparent, Alexei Kudrin, chairman of the board at the Center for Strategic Research, told channel RBC on the sidelines of a forum on Tuesday.

“I do not see this deal as transparent. It seems to me that it creates risks to the image of Russia,” Kudrin said. “Many investors are asking themselves… who bears risks in the deal? It is unclear to me as well. It is evident that the risks are distributed somehow but we do not see how.”

He said that the purchase was financed by loans bearing risks connected with oil prices, companies’ capitalization and share price. “We see that these risks are not distributed in a clear way.”

The government sold the stake in Rosneft to the consortium for 10.5 billion euros in December 2016. Rosneft said that Italy’s Bank Intesa Sanpaolo will be the main creditor of the deal, while Glencore said that Russian banks will provide part of the funds.

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