Mikhail Gutseriev merges "Russneft" and "Nephthys" prior to IPO
Russneft" and "Nephthys" to unite with an IPO in the plan.
As "The Kommersant" predicted, Mikhail Gutseriev merges two of his oil projects - "Russneft" and "Nephthys". A longtime partner of a businessman and a major creditor of "Russneft", the trader Glencore, may receive the stake in the combined company. Sberbank will be another shareholder with a share of 10%, which participated in the financing of the oil company. Following the consolidation of the combined entity, which businessman estimated at $18 billion, should hold IPO, solving problem with the significant debt load. The analysts agree that this is the best solution, but consider Mikhail Gutseriev’s estimate inflated by at least twice.
Yesterday the owner of "Russneft" and "Nephthys", Mikhail Gutseriev, stated in an interview with Bloomberg that he was exploring the possibility of merging them with the IPO in 2016. On February 25th, "The Kommersant" talked about the possibility of the merger. The businessman estimated the value of the combined company at $18 billion at the production level of 17 million tons of oil and reserves of 700 million tons. According to Mr. Gutseriev the "Nephthys" and "Russneft" merger will reduce its total debt to $1.6 billion, now it is $4.9 billion, stated a source in "The Kommersant" close to "Russneft".