Oligarch sells his last assets in Russia

Russian Journal ^ | November 11, 2003

[RussianConservative]

MOSCOW - The Basic Element company has acquired a 37.5 percent stake in RusPromAvto from the company Millhouse Capital, owned by Roman Abramovich, Russia’s second richest man, a source in RusPromAvto told RBC. The value of the deal has not been revealed. Basic Element’s press service refused to comment.

RusPromAvto is one of Russia’s largest automobile groups. It comprises about 20 companies producing cars, trucks, buses and road construction equipment. When the holding company was set up, Basic Element and Millhouse each received 37.5 percent in it, and 25 percent was given to the management of RusPromAvto.

Thus, Basic Element, owned by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, has a 75 percent stake in the automobile group. Meanwhile, Roman Abramovich is selling off his Russian business.

Mr. Abramovich is the Governor of the Chukotka region and the second wealthiest man in Russia, with a net worth of $5.4bn. The sell-off of his Russian assets began last spring, when Millhouse sold a 26 percent stake to Aeroflot to the National Reserve Bank (NRB).

In October, the major shareholders of the oil companies Sibneft and YUKOS announced the completion of their merger. The united company YukosSibneft became the largest oil company in the country. On October 3, YUKOS received more than 3.413bn shares of Sibneft (72 percent plus 1 share) in exchange for about 702.397m shares in YUKOS (26.01 percent).

Mr. Abramovich, the owner of Sibneft, sold his largest asset in Russia in September, preparing to pull out of the problematic Russian business. Basic Element acquired a 25 percent stake in Russian Aluminum (RUSAL), increasing its stake in the aluminum group to 75 percent.

The deal left Oleg Deripaska controlling almost the whole of RUSAL, Russia’s largest aluminum company. RUSAL was set up in March 2000, as a result of the merger of several aluminum and steel companies located in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). RUSAL accounts for 75 percent of primary aluminum in Russia, and it makes up 10 percent of the world’s primary aluminum. According to analysts, Mr. Abramovich received $2.5bn to $3bn from the deal.

The assets of the company Basic Element are concentrated in various sectors of the economy, including in ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, car making, the wood industry, the energy sector, finances and insurance.

[RussianConservative]

Baah buah

[oilfieldtrash]

He is going to sell it off and get when the getting is good and move to London and manage his football club. He doesnt want to hang around like Khordovsky and end up in jail.