Sistema says Rosneft’s suit hurts capitalization of company

MOSCOW, Jun 5 (PRIME) -- A 106.6 billion ruble suit The suit of oil companies Rosneft and Bashneft against multi-industry holding Sistema has hurt its capitalization, Sistema said in a statement on Monday quoting President Mikhail Shamolin as saying.

“The actions of the claimants have inflicted a serious blow to the market capitalization of Sistema,” the company cited Shamolin as saying.

In May, Rosneft filed the suit seeking to recover an alleged loss incurred by Sistema and its unit Sistema-Invest, which Rosneft believes were involved in asset stripping of Bashneft in 2009–2014, when they owned a controlling stake in the company. On May 24, Rosneft requested the Arbitration Court of the republic of Bashkortostan to raise claims under the suit to 170.6 billion rubles.

Sistema still believes that the claims are illegal and plans to stand its ground and use all possible legal ways for that. Sistema transformed Bashneft into one of the best performing oil companies and improved its value for all investors and counteragents, including Russia as a receiver of taxes, and the next owner of the company, Sistema said.

“All corporate actions mentioned in the suit were aimed at maximizing Bashneft’s value prior to a potential IPO at international markets. Reorganization of Bashneft was done specifically with that goal in mind and in full compliance with Russian legislation,” Shamolin said as cited by the company.

On June 2, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said that an amicable deal with Sistema is possible. Shamolin said that Sistema was ready to discuss the amicable deal, but there had been no dialogue between the companies.

(56.6876 rubles – U.S. $1)

End %%md/jst%%