VTB Bank says price of Lukoil’s diamond unit sale at market level
MOSCOW, Jun 1 (PRIME) -- The sales by Russian oil major Lukoil of diamond mining unit AGD Diamonds passed diversified expert evaluation, and consultants VTB Bank and Goldman Sachs said the price was in line with the market, VTB Bank said in a statement on Monday.
“The deal passed a thorough and diversified expert evaluation, the price of the company was acknowledged as a market price by both consultants of the deal and it satisfied the seller and the buyer,” the statement read.
If a law suit is launched, courts should make a fair decision and avoid revision of such a large deal, but the suit could cause indefinite disruption of operating and financial activity of a large Russian company, break the procedure of approval and coordination of similar deals, and hurt Russia’s investment attractiveness, the bank said.
Lukoil sold Arkhangelskgeoldobycha to an affiliate of Otkritie Holding for U.S. $1.45 billion in 2017. The company was earlier renamed into AGD Diamonds.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service said on May 25 that it had filed a suit to the Arbitration Court of the Arkhangelsk Region, asking to void the deal, because Otkritie hid its foreign beneficiaries, which resulted in foreign control over the strategically important company. The service also said that the sum of the deal was two times higher than the actual value of the diamond producer.
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