Bankruptoil firm Yukos has reportedly nominated its receiver, Eduard Rebgun, tothe board of directors of Rosneft, the state oil company that couldwind up winning many of the Yukos assets up for grabs at upcomingauctions.
Rebgunand another Yukos manager, Sergei Tregub, have been nominated to thenine-seat board, Vedomosti reported Thursday, citing sources familiarwith the nominations.
Rebgun'sspokesman Nikolai Lashkevich confirmed on Thursday that Yukos hadnominated two candidates to Rosneft's board, but declined to give theirnames. Rosneft also declined to comment. Rosneft could potentially votefor Rebgun if it buys its shares from Yukos later this month and selecthim to the board at a shareholders' meeting that should take placebefore July. Thus, Rebgun could sit on the Rosneft board and beremunerated by Rosneft even as he manages the auctions of Yukosproperty in which Rosneft could be a bidder.
Rosnefthas yet to call a shareholders' meeting to select board members. GeorgyIvanin, an oil and gas analyst at investment company Atlanta Capital,predicted that the sales of Yukos assets would last until the end ofthe year.
Yukosowns 9.44 percent of Rosneft, but this stake will change hands at aMarch 27 auction. Rosneft is seen as the likeliest buyer. There couldbe a deal between Rosneft and Rebgun that the company will support hiscandidacy if it buys the shares, said UralSib oil and gas analystAlexei Kormshchikov.
Rosneftcannot nominate Rebgun after it buys the shares because it will havelikely missed the deadline. Shareholders should nominate candidateswithin a certain period after the New Year.
Thisperiod is 30 days if the corporate charter does not say otherwise. ARosneft spokesman declined to discuss the time frame but Vedomostireported that Thursday was the deadline.
Rebgun,director of consultancy Biznes Lotsia, became Yukos receiver courtesyof Rosneft, which proposed him as external manager in spring 2006. Acourt endorsed the proposal. Rosneft also has representatives in theYukos creditors' committee as the largest creditor after the FederalTax Service. Alexander Temerko, a former Yukos vice president, saidlast summer that Rosneft was de facto running Yukos, a statementRosneft denied.
Kormshchikovsaid he was baffled by Rebgun's reported nomination, agreeing that hisappointment would create a conflict of interests. "If Rosneft neededfavorable conditions at the auctions, it could have arranged them in aless public way," he said. "Rosneft has all the chances anyway."
Ivaninof Atlanta Capital said Rebgun's appointment to the board would notdrastically change the conditions for the auctions or put off otherpotential bidders. As Rosneft has its representatives on the creditors'committee and is a principal potential bidder, there is already aserious conflict of interests, he said.
ClaireDavidson, a spokeswoman for Yukos majority shareholder GML and Yukos'London-based managers, could not be reached immediately for commentThursday. In a statement last week, she condemned the auctions, sayingit was wrong to apply discounts to the starting price of "what theworld knows to be extremely valuable assets."
