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Mix-Ansicht- Russland verkauft seine Rohölassets - KEEP-COOL, 24.07.2002, 22:22
Russland verkauft seine Rohölassets
Russia Begins Selling Lukoil Stake Worth $708 Million (Update4)
By Elisa Martinuzzi
Moscow, July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Russia began selling a stake in OAO Lukoil worth about $708 million at today's price to offset falling revenue as the economy slows. Investors said the country may have difficulty finding buyers as stock markets fall.
The government is selling as much as 5.9 percent of the nation's top oil producer in what would be Russia's largest stock offering. The shares will be sold as American depositary receipts to be traded on the London Stock Exchange, the government said in an e-mailed press release. Morgan Stanley is managing the sale.
The offering comes as stock sales in Europe have dropped by almost a fifth to about $50 billion so far this year, Bloomberg data shows. Russia is cutting its stake in Lukoil to about 8 percent as government revenue falls amid a second straight year of slowing economic growth. The country's foreign debt payments will peak at about $17 billion next year.
``It's going to be a hard sell,'' said Douglas Helfer, who helps manage $4 billion in emerging market stocks at F&C Management Ltd. in London. ``To expect new investors to come into Russian oil when the whole market is shaky seems a little optimistic.''
Helfer said he may buy the shares if they are priced at a big enough discount to the Russia-listed stock.
Lukoil shares fell 73 cents, or 4.9 percent, to $14.17, as the Russian Trading System lost 7.4 percent. The decline was the company's biggest since Jan. 24 and values the 50 million shares to be offered at $708.5 million.
Sale Delayed
The Russian government, which has targeted raising $1.1 billion this year from asset sales, declined to comment on the offering. The sale was originally planned for 2001 before a drop in oil prices forced the government to delay the transaction.
Deputy Property Minister Alexander Braverman in April said the government would cancel the sale if Lukoil's share price falls below $12 or $13.
``This is the sort of market environment where you have to be flexible; it has to be the right price,'' said Gabor Sitanyi, who helps manage $2 billion of assets at Schroder Investment Management in London and plans to meet Lukoil executives Friday. He declined to say the price at which he would consider buying.
Maarten de Kok, who helps to manage $2 billion in emerging market assets at Robeco Group in Rotterdam, said he would require the price to be at least 10 percent lower than the Russian stock.
Money managers can order shares until July 31 and the stock will begin trading in London on Aug. 1. Company officials are meeting investors in London, New York and Boston before the sale.
Slumping Shares
Several Russian companies have delayed plans to sell securities because of slumping share prices and concern about emerging markets.
OAO Tyumen Oil Co., Russia's No.3 oil producer, earlier this month said it will postpone selling as much as $500 million of Eurobonds. Alfa Bank, Russia's biggest commercial bank, held back its Eurobond sale, planned for early July, as did Gazprombank, the bank unit of OAO Gazprom, the No. 1 natural gas producer.
``We're unlikely to be interested'' in the Lukoil offering said Lev Mikheev, who helps manage $400 million in emerging market assets at Citigroup Global Investments in London. ``We are right now generally bearish on global growth and the global economy.''
Lukoil, which pumps about a quarter of Russia's crude, today said first-quarter profit declined a less-than-expected 64 percent from the year-ago period to $243 million because of falling prices and limits on exports.
The company last month said it expected to report net income of $170 million. The earnings were prepared under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.
Record
Lukoil shares have fallen 22 percent since reaching a record $18.23 on May 27 compared with a 20 percent decline in the Russian Trading System over the same period.
``There's risk on both sides,'' said Peter Boone, an analyst at Brunswick UBS Warburg in Moscow. ``Stock markets are falling but oil prices are high at the moment, so they may think they need to seize the day. The government has counted on revenue from the sale.''
Today's share price values Lukoil at about 72.7 cents per barrel of oil and gas in proven reserves. That compares with $9 a barrel for BP Plc, whose reserves are just below those of Lukoil and which produces twice as much oil a day as Lukoil.
Gazprom Sale
Russia's biggest stock offering to date was in 1996, when Gazprom raised $430 million selling shares, according to Thomson Financial.
``It's unfortunate that Lukoil was announced on a day that the stock market is down,'' Ghadir Abu Leil-Cooper, who helps to manage about $2.2 billion at Baring Asset Management in London and plans to meet Lukoil executives today. ``In the long term, we still really like Russia,'' she said.
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