Russian govt sells 19.5% in Rosneft to Glencore, Qatari fund

MOSCOW, Dec 8 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has completed a deal to sell a 19.5% stake in oil major Rosneft to Swiss commodities trader Glencore and Qatar’s sovereign fund for 10.5 billion euros, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters late Wednesday citing Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin.

Glencore and the Qatari fund will take equal shares of the 19.5% stake, Sechin said at a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. “The members of the consortium have equal stakes, 50% each,” Sechin said.

The price of the deal is the maximum possible, he said. Before the privatization, Rosneft held talks with 30 companies, funds and investors, he added.

Glencore said in a statement it will pay 300 million euros of its own shares for the stake in Rosneft, while the remainder will be covered by the Qatari fund and banking financing.

Putin said the deal was the largest one on the energy market and said he hoped the arrival of new investors in Rosneft will help improve the management of the company. “I hope their arrival to the management will improve corporate procedures, transparency of the company. Correspondingly, this will finally lead to growth of capitalization,” Putin said.

The proceeds from the company’s privatization should come to the budget in the ruble equivalent, Putin also said, ordering that leaps on the currency market should be avoided. “It is necessary to develop such a scheme, which would not have a negative impact on the market, would not evoke leaps on the currency market,” he said.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service said it had not yet received applications from Glencore and the Qatari fund for stakes in Rosneft.

The Russian government will keep a controlling stake in Rosneft and its value will grow by around 80 billion rubles, Sechin said.

The privatization deal also includes a contract on hydrocarbon supplies with Glencore and creation of a joint consortium for production, Sechin said.

Glencore confirmed the deal includes a 5-year agreement that will give it additional 220,000 barrels of oil per day.

(63.9114 rubles – U.S. $1)

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