Rosneft CEO says VTB did not finance Rosneft stake purchase by QIA

SINGAPORE, Nov 14 (PRIME) -- VTB Group did not finance the purchase of shares of Russian oil company Rosneft by sovereign fund Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin told TV Rain in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.

“It (VTB) did not lend the QIA,” Sechin said. “If it did that, the shares would have been pledged to it. Check to whom the shares are pledged, it will become very clear for you.”

The consortium of Glencore and the QIA, which bought 19.5% in Rosneft in 2016, announced the sale of 14.16% of the stake to China’s CEFC in 2017. But on May 4, the consortium notified CEFC of termination of an agreement to sell the stake. The companies also decided to dissolve the consortium to move to direct shareholding, the QIA will hold 18.93% in Rosneft and Glencore will own 0.57%.

Last week Reuters reported that VTB had given a loan to the QIA and financed more than a half of the deal of purchase of the Rosneft stake. VTB rebutted the information.

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