The international rating agency says in a press release that the Yuganskneftegaz stake may be sold off in late November at 10.4 billion dollars, the price tag put by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the German investment bank hired by Russia's Justice Ministry to value Yukos' subsidiary.
Buying Yukos' prize asset may help E.ON strengthen its positions in Russia; the German company has been showing consistent interest in supporting natural gas and electricity production projects in this country, Fitch Ratings points out in its press release. E.ON is a long-standing partner of Gazprom's, holding a 6.5% stake in the Russian gas major. The utility is also expected to contribute to many of Gazprom's strategic projects, including the development of the Yuzhno-Russkoye gasfield, from where gas will be delivered to consumers via the Northern European pipeline.
The purchase of a stake in Yuganskneftegaz would help E.ON implement its long-term business plans, Fitch Ratings argues. In July 2004, the company announced that it had agreed to finance strategic projects with Gazprom through the exchange of assets. If it wins the Yuganskneftegaz bid, the German utility will be able to swap this asset later on for gas or electricity production projects in Russia.
According to Fitch Ratings, the deal has additional strategic benefits. It would make it possible for E.ON to get rid of insufficient assets in favor of ones that are more valuable strategically.
As Fitch Ratings notes in its press release, Yuganskneftegaz accounts for as much as 10 percent of the total Russian oil output, so gaining control over the country's biggest oil exporter will enable Gazprom to consolidate its assets, to improve its solvency, and to raise its strategic importance with regard to the government.
The change of owner will not affect Yuganskneftegaz's operations in any way, assures Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko. If the sale goes ahead, whoever the buyers, provided they are sensible people, they will be seeking to keep the company's output up, Mr. Khristenko said to reporters. According to him, the government still has a strong enough leverage to prevent Gazprom's present production levels from falling. "What I mean is the Yuganskneftegaz production licenses," he explained.
