UPDATE3: Kremlin sheds no light on Rosneft, Sistema CEOs’ meeting

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MOSCOW, Dec 22 (PRIME) -- The Kremlin is not entitled to speak about a meeting between Russian oil major Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and multi-industry holding Sistema’s chairman of the board of directors and the key owner Vladimir Yevtushenkov, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

“As to the question whether the meeting took place… I am not sure we are entitled to speak for (them),” he said.

Peskov also said the President Vladimir Putin’s phrase about the meeting was said in a relaxed informal environment, but the president has repeatedly advocated an amicable settlement of the legal dispute.

The Moscow Exchange said that at 2.12 p.m. Moscow time it introduced a discrete auction regime for Sistema’s common shares for 20 minutes as their price jumped more than 20% within 10 minutes.

Rosneft’s press secretary Mikhail Leontyev told PRIME that Rosneft does not want to comment on the news that Sistema sent a draft amicable agreement to it and the companies started talks.

Yevtushenkov earlier declined to comment on his meeting with Sechin, which reportedly took place on Thursday.

Earlier in December, Rosneft and Bashneft filed a suit against Sistema and Sistema-Invest seeking redemption of 131.6 billion rubles. The claimants said they want Sistema to repay dividends that it received from Bashneft in 2009–2014 when it was a controlling shareholder of the company.

In August, the court partially satisfied a 170.6 billion ruble suit filed by Rosneft, Bashneft and Bashkortostan to charge Sistema and Sistema-Invest for the losses allegedly caused to Bashneft in 2014 during its reorganization. Sistema was ordered to repay 136.3 billion rubles, but it challenged the decision.

On Monday, the 18th Arbitration Court of Appeals located in the city of Chelyabinsk upheld the lower court’s ruling ordering Sistema to repay 136.6 billion rubles.

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