Rosneft offers to buy out small TNK-BP shareholders in cut-price deal

By Katya Golubkova

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian state oil major Rosneft on Thursday offered to buy out small shareholders in TNK-BP Holding but said it would pay less for the stock than the price at the time of the takeover in March.

Chief executive Igor Sechin said that Rosneft was not a "charity fund" when it bought TNK-BP and did not intend to buy out minority shareholders, raising complaints from them and questions from international investors about corporate governance in Russia.

Following the TNK-BP deal, Rosneft became the world's No. 1 oil producer by output, pumping 4.5 million barrels per day - nearly half of Russia's total - but its capitalization of $74 billion is a fraction of U.S. ExxonMobil's .

"They have had increasing pressure from minorities and there is clearly a lot of feedback that it is damaging the wider Russia franchise," said one trader at a Western bank in Moscow.

Rosneft Vice President Igor Maidannik said that while the company has no legal obligations towards TNK-BP shareholders, the state-owned giant's shares are sensitive to the situation.

"We don't have any obligations. It would be a voluntary offer or, if a decision on a reorganization is taken, a conversion. We will see," he told reporters at TNK-BP's annual shareholders meeting.

Maidannik said he preferred the idea of a share swap, because buyouts "usually don't lead to the desired result".

GLIMMER OF HOPE

Maidannik's comments offered a glimmer of hope for smaller shareholders of TNK-BP, the listed unit of the Anglo-Russian venture bought by Rosneft for $55 billion, will not end up empty-handed. British oil major BP sold its 50 percent stake in TNK-BP for cash and Rosneft stock.

Based on TNK-BP's market capitalization of $21.6 billion, down 57 percent since October when the deal was announced, a buyout of about 5 percent owned by minorities would cost Rosneft approximately $1 billion. TNK-BP shares rose up 1.8 percent.

Minority shareholders welcomed the idea with caution, as Sechin has previously rebuffed such calls.

"I support the idea. Maidannik made a good move. He allowed everyone to express their views and gave hope. But I wanted to hear it from Sechin, given that the decision should be taken not by Maidannik alone," said Gennady Osorgin, a shareholder since 2005.

Maidannik, Rosneft's legal counsel, played down expectations that shareholders - including several leading global emerging markets equity funds - could expect a big payout.

"It has been obvious since the deal was announced that TNK-BP's capitalization would fall," said Maidannik. "Someone might have dreamed that a buyout could happen at the deal's price, but in my opinion that was a gamble."

Earlier this month, Rosneft recommended waiving 2012 dividends for TNK-BP, saying its own policy of paying out 25 percent of earnings as dividends could only be extended to TNK-BP after the deal closed on March 21.

Investors have shown concern that subsequent deals by Rosneft could treat minorities the same way.

Shares of Bashneft have fallen by 4 percent since Tuesday, when Russian business daily Vedomosti reported that Rosneft was interested in buying the company, which produces 300,000 barrels of oil a day, from Sistema .

The report, denied by Sistema's majority owner Vladimir Yevtushenkov, has also sent Bashneft's non-voting preferred shares down by 15 percent.

Gathered at a central Moscow hotel on Thursday, TNK-BP minority shareholders grabbed sandwiches as they anticipated a tightening of purse strings from Rosneft.

"Today we are being fed but at the next meeting we may not be offered even a cup of tea," said Viktor Alexeevich, 65, while putting ham sandwiches and pies into a bag.

"I'm very disappointed that they (BP) left us - they set an example to the locals on how to do business. The dividends they paid proved that."

(Writing by Katya Golubkova and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Megan Davies)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rosneft-may-offer-buy-convert-tnk-bp-shares-104546222.html

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