The history of the purchase of Bashneft: why and how much. Rosneft takes over Bashneft

How the owner of Bashneft changed

In August 2005, when AFK Sistema became the owner of a blocking stake in Bashneft, its leaders emphasized that the investments were exclusively portfolio in nature, and the shares could be sold in a few years. In particular, Levan Vasadze, vice president of Sistema, pointed out that the company would like to receive 75% of Bashkir Capital, which also controlled Bashneft, and in 1.5-2 years the shares could be sold. Rosneft and Gazprom were then called one of the most likely contenders for the Bashkir oil assets, and the company itself confirmed its interest in them. In July 2006, the president of Rosneft, Sergei Bogdanchikov, said: "We are looking at the Bashkir refineries, they are even better than the assets of Yukos."

In June 2013, the Vedomosti newspaper, citing its own sources, announced the interest of Rosneft (then in the process of integrating with TNK-BP) to buy Bashneft. The head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, called the purchase of Bashneft "interesting", but said that it was not discussed.

In July 2013, Sistema's major shareholder Vladimir Yevtushenkov told Bloomberg that Bashneft could indeed be sold to a strategic partner or its shares could be placed on the market.

In August 2013, TASS reported that Sistema plans to sell Bashneft before the end of the year and exit the oil business. The most likely buyer of the oil company, the sources of the agency called the Independent Oil and Gas Company (NOC), controlled by the ex-president of Rosneft, Eduard Khudainatov. However, the president of Bashneft, Alexander Korsik, said that Yevtushenkov was not thinking about selling the company. Sistema President Mikhail Shamolin told Vedomosti that the company intends to independently develop this asset and may hold an IPO in 2014-2015.

In March 2014, Bashneft bought the Tyumen oil company Burneftegaz, owned by Oleg Burlakov, for $1 billion, which was also claimed by Gazprom Neft and Rosneft.

In July 2014, the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested a controlling stake in Bashneft owned by Sistema in a criminal case on the privatization of an oil company. The chairman of the board of directors and the main shareholder of Sistema, Vladimir Yevtushenkov, was summoned for interrogation, and he himself, which regards what is happening as a raider takeover.

In September 2014, Igor Sechin stated that Rosneft had never considered buying Bashneft's shares due to "skeletons in the closet" and the risks of privatizing this asset.

In October 2014, the Moscow Arbitration Court ruled that 81.67% of Bashneft's shares be reclaimed by the state, and in December Sistema transferred these shares to the Federal Property Management Agency.

In October 2015, Deputy Energy Minister Alexei Teksler, who headed the board of directors of Bashneft, stated that at that time there were no plans for an SPO, but "the management was tasked with always being ready for privatization." And in July 2016, Rosneft announced that it had received an offer from the government consultant VTB Capital to purchase a 50.1% stake in Bashneft during privatization.

The government has received two binding proposals from contenders for Bashneft, Ulyukayev said. “The best is higher than the value of the appraiser (from 297 billion to 315 billion rubles — RBC) - made only by PJSC NK Rosneft, - said Ulyukaev. According to him, the price offer of Rosneft turned out to be with a significant premium to the current market value of the shares: 20.6% to the closing price of trading on September 30 (the day the binding offer was received). The head of the Ministry of Economic Development did not name the second contender, noting only that his application suggested "a slightly lower price."

According to Ulyukaev, the sale of the state-owned stake in Rosneft will preserve the integrity of Bashneft's assets and support plans to privatize a 19.5% stake in Rosneft itself.

Earlier Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a deal with Rosneft, which offered the highest price for Bashneft shares, would be beneficial for the country's budget. “This is a neat privatization, bearing in mind the synergistic effect and getting the maximum benefit from the point of view of budgetary fiscal interests,” the head of state said at the Russia Calling! forum.

On October 10, it became known that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order on the direct sale of Rosneft's 50.08% stake in Bashneft for 329.69 billion rubles. The government directive provided that state representatives on the board of directors of Rosneft should instruct the head of the company, Igor Sechin, to sign the sale and purchase agreement by October 15.

As Kommersant expected, Bashneft will be sold to Rosneft without bidding - the government approved the directive to the board of directors of the largest oil company. The deal, the amount of which will amount to 329 billion rubles, has already been approved by Rosneft on October 1. According to Kommersant's interlocutors, the deal will be closed within two weeks.

The government officially published a directive to the board of directors of Rosneft, according to which it buys directly 50.08% of the authorized capital of Bashneft for no more than 330 billion rubles. Kommersant reported the existence of such a plan on October 3. The amount of the transaction, according to Kommersant's interlocutors, will amount to 329 billion rubles. This is about 5% more than the independent appraiser EY estimated the state-owned stake in Bashneft. The directive requires the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, to sign a contract for the sale and purchase of control in Bashneft by October 15.

The Rosneft Board of Directors approved the deal to buy Bashneft on October 1, the day after First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov announced the resumption of the deal, which was unexpectedly suspended in mid-August. Recall that earlier Mr. Shuvalov called LUKOIL the best contender for the asset, although there were other candidates besides him, but, according to Kommersant's sources, they were not even considered seriously. At the same time, Rosneft’s desire to acquire the asset was resisted by officials from the government’s financial bloc, including presidential aide, head of the board of directors of Rosneft Andrei Belousov, who called the sale of one state-owned company another stupidity. As Kommersant wrote, having slowed down the privatization of Bashneft, the government at first wanted to take on the privatization of Rosneft itself.

But the lobbying resource of Igor Sechin not only prevented this from happening, but radically changed the alignment of forces not in favor of LUKOIL, as a result of which Rosneft became the main contender for the Bashneft package. It is assumed that, having acquired this asset, Rosneft will increase its shareholder value, and then the government plans to privatize a 19.5% stake in the largest oil company, which, according to the assurances of the head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Alexei Ulyukaev, will take place in November. The Ministry of Finance is budgeting revenues from two privatization deals, which should bring more than 1 trillion rubles.

Analyst of Raiffeisen Bank Denis Poryvai on the air of Kommersant FM:“Either there will be a sale of currency on the open market, and there will already be a settlement with the budget in rubles, or the budget will receive money in foreign currency, then there will be a conversion into rubles directly to the Central Bank. In any of these options, the currency of the focal market will go away one way or another, and accordingly, there will be a shortage of foreign exchange liquidity. It is impossible to say for sure what will happen. Rosneft may sell part of the currency, this will cause the ruble to strengthen, or it may not sell, the ruble may weaken. This volatility would have a negative impact on market participants and their expectations.”

Vladimir Putin left Rosneft in the game

On September 2, Vladimir Putin gave the first public comments on the situation around the privatization of Bashneft, which clarified little, but clearly indicated that Igor Sechin's Rosneft remained a real contender for the asset. The President made it clear that the purchase of one state-owned company by another is “not the best option,” but noted that in the end, it is “important for the budget who will give more money,” and therefore Rosneft cannot be excluded from participation in the competition.

Why officials opposed the participation of Rosneft in the privatization of Bashneft

The government has banned Rosneft from participating in the privatization of Bashneft, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said on July 28. The prime minister's press secretary, Natalia Timakova, confirmed that this was the government's official position. Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation and head of the board of directors of Rosneft itself, Andrei Belousov, agreed that such participation is “some kind of stupidity.” But Rosneft was not embarrassed by this - a representative of the company said that it only obeys the instructions of the "major shareholder".

Rosneft must allocate no more than 330 billion rubles (5.29 billion US dollars at the current exchange rate) for the acquisition of a 50.0755% stake in PJSOC Bashneft, follows from a government directive to the board of directors of Rosneft. Interfax talks about it.

The directive also instructs the head of Rosneft to “sign a contract for the sale and purchase of shares in PJSOC Bashneft, ensuring the subsequent receipt of all relevant necessary corporate approvals and decisions of state bodies provided for by the current Russian legislation and the company’s charter by October 15, 2016” .

On October 1, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced the resumption of the process of privatization of the Bashkir oil company, and First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said that the government did not intend to limit Rosneft's participation in the privatization of the state-owned stake in Bashneft.

On the same day, Shuvalov signed a directive to state representatives on the board of directors of Rosneft on the purchase of 50% of Bashneft, and the board of directors of Rosneft approved its participation in the privatization of the Bashkir oil company.

Earlier, the Ministry of Economic Development reported on 9 contenders for Bashneft. The market called Rosneft and LUKOIL the main ones, in addition to which Tatneft, Independent Oil and Gas Company (owned by the ex-head of Rosneft Eduard Khudainatov), ​​Russneft of businessman Mikhail Gutseriev, little-known Tatneftegaz ”, Russian Direct Investment Fund with foreign partners, Energy Fund of the former Minister of Energy Igor Yusufov, Antipinsky Oil Refinery. According to an independent assessment by Ernst & Young, the state-owned stake in Bashneft in August was estimated at between 297 billion and 315 billion rubles.

At the end of August, Bloomberg reported http://www. interfax. ru/business/525762 that the head of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, asked the government to allow the company he manages to acquire control in the Bashkir oil company for $5 billion at a premium to the market. By selling then 19.5% of Rosneft itself, the state will bail out $16 billion in total, thus covering half of the 2016 budget deficit, Sechin's arguments were reported by the agency.

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A 19.5% stake in Rosneft, like Bashneft, will be sold before the end of this year. Revenues from their sale in the amount of 1 trillion rubles have already been included in the budget for the current year. The sale of state assets will help maintain an acceptable level of federal treasury deficit of 3.7% of GDP.

The upcoming sale became known when the Ministry of Finance presented amendments to the budget, which surprised everyone with too high incomes - 13.37 trillion rubles. It was originally planned that they would be at least 0.5 - 1 trillion less than these figures. And if the structure of expenses in the document was disclosed, then the sources of income remained unclear.

The Ministry of Finance itself came up with clarifications, saying that it is planned to gain about 700 billion rubles from the sale of a 19.5% state stake in Rosneft. Let me remind you that earlier it was planned that they wanted to receive about 500 billion rubles for the package of state-owned companies. Then the government raised the estimate to 650 billion rubles. Now, according to Anton Siluanov, 700 billion is exactly 19.5% of the current capitalization of Rosneft, which is 3.59 trillion rubles.

The state is going to receive about another 300 billion through the sale of Bashneft. The market value of the controlling stake in the company (50.08%) is estimated at 240 billion rubles. But it is obvious that the Ministry of Finance expects to sell it with a premium to the market (+27.5%), hence the figure of 300 billion. Judging by the situation, we are talking about selling it to a strategic investor, which, according to the publication, could be Rosneft itself ". Analysts believe that the cost of Rosneft is somewhat overstated, but it is quite realistic to sell the state-owned stake for such a price. The cost of Bashneft's share, at the same time, seems to them quite justified.

Earlier it was reported that in addition to Rosneft, which is interested in this asset, since the acquisition of high-quality refineries will improve the situation with the depth of processing, Lukoil also claims to Bashneft. However, according to experts, it is Rosneft that can give the money that the state wants for the company. According to some reports, Lukoil has already abandoned the idea of ​​buying a stake in Bashneft.

“The proposed privatization cannot be called classical, because there are no foreign investors and there will not be any for obvious political reasons,” said Vladimir Razmustov, a political scientist, historian, and project manager at the International Financial and Economic Center CJSC. - Also, it will not include representatives of China and India, which were discussed earlier, but which now have their own difficulties. From this tangle of government headaches, it appears that the acquirer of state assets will be Rosneft itself. It will buy out the state-owned 19.5% stake and take part in the privatization of Bashneft.”

This is some kind of compromise that the government has found so far. In the short term, everything is going well. Another thing is that in the long term this plan raises questions among reasonable experts, since the government of Bashkiria is not going to give away a blocking stake of 25% of the shares. They expect to continue their influence on Bashneft, the third largest in Russia and the leader in terms of oil production growth.

On the other hand, Rosneft is still a private company, although for some reason we are used to considering it a state company. It is simply controlled through Rosneftegaz. Both there and there the name of Igor Sechin appears. That is, the presence of the state in this case is based on friendly relations. As long as there is Sechin, there is control over Rosneft,” the expert emphasizes.

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In mid-August, I wrote about the privatization of Bashneft: “The key contender for the asset, the head of LUKOIL, Vagit Alekperov, has repeatedly made it clear that he considers the market price of Bashneft too high. And the estimate of the Federal Property Management Agency far exceeded even these figures [the Government estimated it at more than 300 billion rubles]. Frankly, there is every reason to believe that the approval of the overestimation of Bashneft by the Federal Property Management Agency caused objections from Lukoil, the most important potential buyer, which influenced the failure of the sale. On the other hand, the second biggest bidder, state-owned Rosneft, likely had no problem paying the premium: the company had done so before, buying a stake in TNK-BP from Russian owners at a 40 percent premium to market value. Given the scale and impressive position of Rosneft in the Russian economy and the system of government, it would have no problem borrowing from state-owned banks for a deal, and the problem of growing debt burden, as we have seen before, does not really bother state manager Igor Sechin.

The day before yesterday comes the news: “The media learned about the possible purchase of Rosneft by Bashneft for 325 billion without bidding.” That is, everything came true 100%.

To be honest, I already wanted to joke on this topic that the authorities don’t need to look for any buyers and investors now at all during the “privatization” - I took it, gave Sechin a loan from the state bank at 0.5% per annum, and Rosneft itself will buy from the state your package for a trillion - that's the whole privatization for you.

Funny, right? However, once again it is confirmed that the realities of our today's life are worse than the worst joke: "During the privatization, Rosneft itself can buy back 19.5% of its own shares from Rosneftegaz," the Vedomosti newspaper reports on Wednesday, October 5 , citing a source familiar with the privatization scheme. Read on - as I explained some time ago, no buyers for the state-owned stake in Rosneft were found: “According to the interlocutor of the publication, the possibility of such a scheme is due to the fact that the budget“ needs money already now". At the same time, it is quite difficult to find an investor for such a package in a short time. The Chinese are cautious, looking back at the United States, the Indians have just bought large oil assets, they need to be digested, and European investors will not buy. "

Honestly, all this is just turning into some kind of circus. Just go to the circus. Bottom line: for all these purchases, Sechin will accumulate billions more debts, for which we will then have to pay with free oil supplies to the Chinese. The scheme has already been tested at TNK-BP, etc.

After several months of disputes, the government instructed its representatives on the board of directors of Rosneft to approve the purchase of the state-owned stake in Bashneft. Rosneft offers the highest price, but the state had other ways to withdraw money from it, experts say

The directive on the privatization of Bashneft was signed on October 1, the day after First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov announced the resumption of the process of selling the state stake, RBC sources say. In the photo: the head of Rosneft Igor Sechin (right) and Shuvalov (Photo: Maxim Shemetov/TASS)

Bashneft in one hand?

First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov approved a directive according to which the chief executive officer of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, must sign a sale and purchase agreement for 50.08% of Bashneft by October 15 and obtain all regulatory approvals, on Thursday the government (the text of the directive was posted on his website).

The directive was signed on Saturday, October 1, the day after Shuvalov announced the resumption of the privatization of Bashneft, which was postponed in mid-August for an indefinite period, two sources close to the Ministry of Economic Development told RBC. Just on Saturday, a meeting of the board of directors of Rosneft was held, at which a "significant transaction" worth over $1.5 billion was approved, the company's press service. Its representative did not disclose the details of the deal, but sources close to the state-owned company said that it was just about buying Bashneft.

Shuvalov's second directive instructs state representatives on the board of directors of Rosneft to vote for the purchase of the state-owned stake in Bashneft, while the price should not exceed 330 billion rubles. This is higher than in the summer E&Y estimated 50.08% of the company commissioned by the government - at 297-315 billion rubles. But Sechin at the end of August offered the government to sell this asset for $5 billion (312.3 billion rubles at the current exchange rate), Bloomberg reported.

On the news of these directives, Bashneft shares on the Moscow Exchange first rose slightly in price, and then began to fall: ordinary shares - by 2.49%, preferred ones - by 6.45% (at 18:37 Moscow time). As a result, 50.08% was estimated by the market at only 277.97 billion rubles. Minority shareholders fear that in the event of a transfer of control to Rosneft, it will not announce an offer or it will be lower than the current value of the shares, Raiffeisenbank analyst Andrey Polishchuk suggests. The price of shares indicated in the offer cannot be lower than their weighted average value over the past six months, adds Pavel Gerasimov, partner at the Padva & Epshtein law office (during this time, ordinary shares of Bashneft have risen in price by 54.5%). For example, when transferring shares in regional gas companies to Gazprom, there was no such offer, and Rosneft itself bought TNK-BP Holding shares from minority shareholders in 2013-2014 at a price lower than that which the sellers expected.

However, Shuvalov's directive does not yet mean that Bashneft will be sold into one hand without holding a public auction, a federal official told RBC and confirmed a source in the Ministry of Economic Development. The directive is permissive, according to both interlocutors: this is an indication that Rosneft may participate in the deal to privatize Bashneft, but all the details of the deal, including whether there will be an auction or a direct sale, will be specified in the government’s order, which will be released separately. “The method of selling a block of shares in Bashneft will be reflected in the corresponding final order of the government,” Elena Lashkina, assistant minister of economic development, confirmed to RBC.

The government spokeswoman did not specify when such an order would be published.

Rosneft against everyone

The Russian authorities decided to privatize Bashneft along with other assets as early as February 1st. Then President Vladimir Putin said that during privatization transactions it is necessary to ensure “maximum transparency”, and also pointed out the need to pay more attention to the “quality of investors”: “It is necessary that future investors and acquirers look for their own resources or credit resources, but not from state banks. It will make little sense." Soon the press secretary of "Rosneft" Mikhail Leontiev told RBC that the company was not going to buy this asset. “How can one state-owned company buy another? We don’t feed on these events,” he said.

By summer, the situation had changed dramatically. VTB Capital, appointed as an investment advisor to the government on the sale of Bashneft, collected about ten applications from applicants, including LUKOIL, Tatneft, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), an independent oil and gas company controlled by ex-president of Rosneft Eduard Khudainatov. And Rosneft, which also filed an application, entered into an open debate with the government and the presidential administration on whether Rosneft (69.5% of its shares is owned by the state holding Rosneftegaz) has the right to participate in privatization. “It’s kind of stupid for Rosneft to participate: one state-owned company participated in the privatization of another,” Andrey Belousov, presidential aide and chairman of the board of directors of Rosneft, told reporters. But the state-owned company did not withdraw its application. “Has the government issued us a directive prohibiting participation in privatization? Not!" Sechin retorted.

In order to settle this dispute, in mid-August, the government postponed this deal. And after privatization was suddenly resumed on September 30, Rosneft began to be called the favorite in the race for Bashneft. This was stated by the head of Bashkiria, Rustem Khamitov, and one of the contenders, the Energia fund, owned by ex-Minister of Energy Igor Yusufov. “In the current situation, we believe that the most attractive offer is from Rosneft, which is able to pay for this asset (50.08% of Bashneft) in excess of $5 billion (which is the highest premium for the Russian government),” in his message posted on Tuesday. And RDIF and its international partners have decided to withdraw their bid because the amount requested for a stake in Bashneft is significantly higher than the initial estimate, head of the fund Kirill Dmitriev said on Thursday evening.

Back in August, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev, Sechin explained that the sale of the state-owned stake in Bashneft would subsequently make it more profitable to sell 19.5% of the shares of Rosneft itself (this asset is also planned to be privatized before the end of 2016), Vedomosti reported. with a link to a copy of the letter. “The integration of Bashneft with the subsequent sale of Rosneft shares will not only preserve the integrity of Bashneft’s assets, but also support plans for the privatization of Rosneft with a premium to the current market valuation due to the monetization of synergy,” he pointed out. Sechin estimated synergy at 160 billion rubles.

Sergey Vakhrameev, portfolio manager at GL Asset Management, considers the assessment of possible synergy to be overstated, and calls the sale of one state-owned company to another company with state participation "a non-market step." In addition, Vakhrameev warns that in the event of a direct purchase by Rosneft of a controlling stake in Bashneft above the market, the value of Rosneft's shares will not exceed the current market value: its net debt will increase and cash in its accounts will decrease. However, according to Raiffeisenbank, the purchase of this asset will not require Rosneft to raise new borrowings: at the end of the second quarter of 2016, the company had $22.4 billion in its accounts, and from the sale of shares in Vankorneft and Taas-Yuryakh to Indian investors, the company will receive another $4 billion: this will cover almost all debt obligations in the second half of the year (the company must pay $4.7 billion).

The price offered by Rosneft for Bashneft turned out to be the largest, but the state could withdraw this money to the budget in another way, for example, through increased dividends, says Polishchuk from Raiffeisenbank. However, then it would have to be shared with other shareholders, including the British BP (owns 19.75%), he adds. However, this year the government, on the contrary, made concessions to Rosneft, taking only 35% of net profit under IFRS (124.5 billion rubles) in the form of dividends instead of the previously planned 50% (177.5 billion rubles).

How the position of the authorities has changed on the issue of allowing Rosneft to privatize Bashneft

Igor Shuvalov, First Deputy Prime Minister (July 11, BFM.ru): “In such circumstances, when we recently experienced the acquisition of TNK-BP by Rosneft, is it necessary that the company acquire another private player? There are questions about this, because we are privatizing not only to get money for the budget, but we want to see changes in the structure of the economy, we want the company to have sufficient incentives for growth.”

Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy Prime Minister (July 28, Vedomosti): “It was decided not to allow state-controlled companies to participate in privatization, and we are talking about both direct control and indirect control.”

Dmitry Peskov, presidential press secretary (July 22, RIA Novosti): “There is such an understanding that state-owned companies cannot directly take part, there really is, and indeed there was a discussion on this matter, such an understanding was recorded both in the government and in the administration ... This is not a directive, not a decree, this is an understanding.”

Dmitry Peskov (July 26, RIA Novosti): “According to the formal point of view, Rosneft is not a state-owned company, it can simply be clearly stated right away. But, of course, there are different points of view on this matter.

Andrei Belousov, presidential aide (July 28, Interfax): “This is some kind of stupidity for Rosneft to participate: one state-owned company participated in the privatization of another.”

Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukaev announced that the deal for the purchase by Rosneft of ordinary shares of Bashneft in the amount of 88,951,379 pcs. (50.0755% of the authorized capital) is completed. “The whole amount is 329 billion 690 million rubles. – will go to the budget of Russia,” he specified.

According to him, in the process of preparing the deal, two offers were received from potential buyers of shares. The best price offer was made by Rosneft. Rosneft is the only company that submitted a consultant for a proposal - “ VTB capital” - a legally binding offer with a price higher than the estimate of an independent appraiser - from 297 to 315 billion rubles. The second company, which has submitted a legally binding application, has a slightly lower price,” the minister explained.

According to him, Rosneft's offer turned out to be a significant premium to the current market value of the shares - 20.6% to the closing price on September 30. This deal will not only preserve the integrity of Bashneft's assets, but also maximize the synergy effect from combining the assets of both companies, and support plans to privatize a 19.5% stake in Rosneft, Ulyukayev added.

In turn, Rosneft reported that 329.7 billion rubles were transferred to the account of the Federal Treasury. for the purchase of a controlling stake in Bashneft. "The deal to acquire a controlling stake in the company has been completed," the company said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin at the forum "Russia is calling!" admitted that he was surprised by the position of the Cabinet of Ministers on the purchase of Bashneft by Rosneft.

According to him, "the market was very surprised both by the postponement of the sale of the company and its transfer to another state-owned company." “Perhaps it will seem strange to you - I myself was a little surprised by such a position of the government,” Putin admitted, “but this is really the position of the government, primarily of its financial and economic bloc.”

He gave several reasons for this decision. "First of all, " Rosneft"It's not a state-owned company, it's a company with state participation, it also has a foreign shareholder. Secondly, Rosneft offered the highest price, slightly higher than the estimates of international experts.

Thirdly, after the acquisition of Bashneft and the subsequent sale of 19.5% of Rosneft, a synergistic effect occurs - the price of these 19.5% increases significantly, and thus Rosneft will not only recoup the premium that it gives to the state when acquiring Bashneft, but will sell its own stake profitably," he explained.

Fourthly, the sale of Rosneft is carried out through Rosneftegaz, and the money goes directly to the budget, which, from the point of view of the Ministry of Finance, is very profitable, Putin said: “The most important thing is that we do not stop the privatization process at this step, we ourselves " Rosneft" in a significant amount - 19.5% - is subject to privatization." Finally, Bashkiria asked to maintain the influence of the republic on this company, the head of state noted.

“We know the interests of other companies. They were quite worthy in order to acquire a stake in Bashneft, for example " Lukoil" Putin mentioned. "We will support these companies<...>including by granting them licenses to expand their activities," he added.

On October 10, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order to sell a 50.075% stake in the company " Bashneft". “This sale is being made to the public joint-stock company Rosneft Oil Company at a price of 329.690 billion rubles,” the prime minister said at a meeting with deputy prime ministers (quoted by TASS).

Rosneft spokesman Mikhail Leontiev said that Rosneft has a unique experience in integrating assets "and it is very successful." “There are no companies in Russia that would have such experience in integrating large assets. We will maximize the synergy effect. Compared to TNK-BP, Bashneft is a small asset, and before that [before the purchase of TNK-BP in 2013] there was a lot more,” he told Interfax.