MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Qatar’s Investment Authority (QIA), a sovereign wealth fund, is buying a 19.5-percent stake in Rosneft in a consortium with mining firm Glencore. Separately, Rosneft is mulling buying a stake in Egypt's Zohr gas field.
"Qatar is the largest LNG producer, Rosneft is about to become a stakeholder in Zohr, so there are opportunities for synergy in terms of logistics and trading," the source said.
"Glencore will hedge a significant part of its stake, most of it," the source said, adding Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority had an equity stake in their consortium.
"The new stakeholders [of Rosneft] are structuring the transaction as an LBO [leveraged buyout], meaning assets acquired are being used as collateral along with the assets of the companies," the source continued.
A joint venture on oil production, which can be established between Rosneft, the QIA and Glencore is interested in developing shelf projects, the source said.
"The joint venture is showing interest to upstream projects, including on the shelf," the source said, adding that the joint venture could be engaged in the current projects or some of those set to be launched within the next two years.
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin informed Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that a deal had been reached to sell the government stake in the company to a consortium of Glencore and the Qatar Investment Authority for 10.5 billion euros (some $11.3 billion).
Also on Wednesday, Rosneft’s board of directors discussed buying a stake of up to 35 percent in the Shorouk concession off Egypt’s coast. The Italian energy company Eni announced the discovery of a "supergiant" offshore gas field in late August.
"This deal has nothing to do with the OPEC, Russia-OPEC arrangements," the source added.
A consortium of four or five banks besides Intesa Sanpaolo bank took part in credit funding of the deal.
"There is a consortium of four of five key banks," the source said.
According to the source, Intesa Sanpaolo bank will finance "far more than 50 percent" of the credit funds worth 7 billion euro ($7.4 billion) attracted under the deal.
