The FINANCIAL — According to RIA Novosti, fugitive Mikhail Gutseriyev, the former head of mid-sized oil firm RussNeft, is regaining control of the company in an apparent bid to rescue it from a heavy debt burden, a business daily reported on January 18.
In July 2007, Gutseriyev resigned as RussNeft president and withdrew from all his business projects, citing pressure from the Russian government. He was for a time on a police wanted list after he failed to appear for questioning on tax charges.
Kommersant reported that Gutseriyev has been reelected to RussNeft's board of directors, and several top managers associated with the company's current owner, aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska, were expected to leave the oil firm as it was braced for key personnel changes.
Gutseriyev sold RussNeft to Deripaska in a deal estimated at $2.8-3 billion in 2007. Earlier this month, however, Russneft shareholder En+ announced that the transaction had not been finalized and was now canceled, Kommersant said.
Government officials earlier said the transaction was very complex as RussNeft was controlled by a hundred offshore companies, prompting regulators to reconsider it.
Business daily Vedomosti reported in late December that Deripaska was prepared to return the company to Gutseriyev for free, provided that the RussNeft founder paid for the company's looming debts.
In 2007, the RussNeft purchase deal was financed with a $2.7 billion loan, which Russian Machines, a company integrated into Deripaska's BasEl investment vehicle, took from state-controlled bank Sberbank against the pledge of a controlling stake in GAZ, a major Russian auto maker.
In February 2009, the loan was registered on the balance sheet of RussNeft, which now owes $2.7 billion to Sberbank until 2016. However, the shares of GAZ have remained as the collateral in the transaction.
Analysts say Deripaska has failed to receive any profits or dividends from RussNeft, which has apparently prompted him to offload the business.
RussNeft's oil production was registered to decline in 2009, with output falling to 247,000 barrels a day in the fourth quarter or 11.9% less than in the same period of 2008. The fall was put down to the company's underfinancing amid the global economic crisis and uncertainty over its ownership.
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