The purchaser of Lot 19, made up of YUKOS foreign assets with a starting price of $300 million, may receive assets worth over $1.2 billion. Moravel Investments Ltd. now has claims to $700 million worth of them due to YUKOS debt, but it is likely that the company will be paid from the YUKOS bankruptcy proceedings in Russia. In that case, the winner of the auction, scheduled for August 15, would receive YUKOS foreign assets unencumbered. Experts expect Rosneft to be that winner.
In the nearest future, the presidium of the Supreme Court of Arbitration should prepare the full text of the resolution of the case of the Cypriote company Moravel Ltd. It is demanding about $700 million from YUKOS on the basis of a decision of a London international commercial court of September 16, 2005. A credit was made to YUKOS, from which the debt arose, in 2003 against the funds of Group MENATEP, the main shareholder of the oil company. Then Moravel, the beneficiary of which is MENATEP, received the to right to demand the return of the credit. Arbitration courts of the first and second instances in Moscow refused to acknowledge the decision of the London court and did not allow Moravel's claim to be included in the register of YUKOS creditors. However, on June 19, the presidium of the Supreme Court of Arbitration unexpectedly sent the case back for a new hearing, which will take place after the full text of the Supreme Court of Arbitration is ready. That usually takes a month.
Moravel is now claiming $700 million from the foreign assets of YUKOS, since the Dutch court that is controlling the distribution of those funds among the creditors, has already acknowledged the decision of the London court. However, money is not being paid to oversees creditors yet. Nikolay Lashkevich, press secretary to the YUKOS bankruptcy manager, explained that “the Dutch court will allow payment only after all disputed questions are settled.” Thus, the Russian court's acknowledgment of the London arbitration may allow Moravel to receive money from the YUKOS bankruptcy proceedings in Russia earlier than they begin to make payments abroad.
Moravel lawyer Ekaterina Pavlenko told Kommersant yesterday that the company has yet to receive the court's resolution and does not know when the Moscow Arbitration Court will hear the case. Most likely, the case will be heard after Lot 19 is sold on August 15. “There is no sense in us waiting for the court proceedings, all the more so since we do not know when it will occur and cannot predict its outcome. The buyer of Lot 19 will take on all the risks associated with it,” Lashkevich said. Thus, the property being cold will formally be encumbered for $700 million, lowering the lot's cost.
Experts say that the outcome of the court case will have a significant influence on the value on the assets to be sold on August 15.
Lot 19 will include 100 percent of the stock in Yukos Finance, which is registered in The Netherlands. The starting price of the lot was set by appraisers at $300 million. According to Evgeny Neiman, head of YUKOS appraiser the ROSEKO company, complications with the appraisal of the oversees assets of YUKOS made it necessary to base it on their balance-sheet value. The YUKOS foreign assets really do have a complex structure. Formally, the property does not belong to Yukos Finance, but to its wholly-owned subsidiary Yukos International UK B.V. The stock in Yukos International was transferred to the Dutch foundation Stichting Administratiekantoor Yukos International in exchange for its depositary receipts, which Yukos Finance holds.
In spite of the complexity of the ownership, the new owner of Yukos Finance will receive access to the main foreign asset of YUKOS, that is, the funds from the 2006 sale of 53 percent of the Lithuanian refinery Mazeikiu Nafta.
The $1.2 billion paid for the share in the refinery is now being held in a depositary account in a Baltic bank.
That is the same money to which the Dutch court acknowledged Moravel's claim, as well as Rosneft, which is demanding $455 million. Rosneft was able to have its claims included in the register of creditors' demands in Russia, however. The money in the bankruptcy assets is enough to pay all creditors, so Rosneft is not making any claims against YUKOS overseas assets now. If the Russian arbitration court acknowledges the debt to Moravel, it will also receive money from the YUKOS bankruptcy proceedings and will be excluded from its overseas creditors. “Seeking one and the same debt from two sources is not possible, so if Moravel receives money in Russia, it can't make a claim for it in The Netherlands,” explained Yuly Tai, a lawyer at the Bartolius firm. As a result, the buyer of Lot 19 will receive full control over the $1.2 billion from the sale of Mazeikiu Nafta.
The cost of the assets may rise by $100 million from 49 percent of the Slovakian pipeline company Transpetrol. That share, like the Maziekiu Nafta stock, was transferred to Yukos International, but it was done without the permission of the Slovakian government, owner of 51 percent of the company, which led to a number of legal problems. A new board of directors and supervisory board is to be elected at the Transpetrol stockholders meeting on July 31, but a new owner of Yukos Finance will most likely settle the issues with the Transpetrol stock. Gazprom Neft has shown interest in Transpetrol, and therefore Yukos Finance. Kommersant has learned that it held negotiations with Yukos Finance directors Sergey Shmelkov and L.J. Hogerbrugge (who were appointed by YUKOS bankruptcy manager Eduard Rebgun) on a settlement to its legal problems. The Wall Street Journal Polska reported yesterday that the Polish operator of the Druzhba pipeline, PERN Przyjazn S.A. also wants to contend for the 49-percen share in Transpetrol and may participate in the auction for Lot 19. Lashkevich said, however, that he was unaware of the company's interest and the Russian Federal Property Fund, the organizer of the auction, would not confirm that PERN Przyjazn had filed an application for it.
Industry analysts say that the most likely buyer of Lot 19 is Rosneft. “The company has already taken part in court proceedings connected with Yukos Finance in The Netherlands, trying to get money from it,” noted KIT Finance analyst Dmitry Tsaregorodtsev. “It has acquired almost all YUKOS assets and one more purchase won't be a problem for it.” Indirect confirmation of that can be seen in the fact that Rosneft has two representatives on the YUKOS creditors committee, which forms the lots, while other potential participants in the auctions have no representation there. “The purchase of the asset, with the encumbrance removed, would be highly profitable and usually decisions of such deals are made based on insider information,” Tai suggested. He said that, besides the bankruptcy manager, the creditors committee, appraiser and YUKOS accounts have access to such information.
Blogalaxia Tags: YUKOSIn the nearest future, the presidium of the Supreme Court of Arbitration should prepare the full text of the resolution of the case of the Cypriote company Moravel Ltd. It is demanding about $700 million from YUKOS on the basis of a decision of a London international commercial court of September 16, 2005. A credit was made to YUKOS, from which the debt arose, in 2003 against the funds of Group MENATEP, the main shareholder of the oil company. Then Moravel, the beneficiary of which is MENATEP, received the to right to demand the return of the credit. Arbitration courts of the first and second instances in Moscow refused to acknowledge the decision of the London court and did not allow Moravel's claim to be included in the register of YUKOS creditors. However, on June 19, the presidium of the Supreme Court of Arbitration unexpectedly sent the case back for a new hearing, which will take place after the full text of the Supreme Court of Arbitration is ready. That usually takes a month.
Moravel is now claiming $700 million from the foreign assets of YUKOS, since the Dutch court that is controlling the distribution of those funds among the creditors, has already acknowledged the decision of the London court. However, money is not being paid to oversees creditors yet. Nikolay Lashkevich, press secretary to the YUKOS bankruptcy manager, explained that “the Dutch court will allow payment only after all disputed questions are settled.” Thus, the Russian court's acknowledgment of the London arbitration may allow Moravel to receive money from the YUKOS bankruptcy proceedings in Russia earlier than they begin to make payments abroad.
Moravel lawyer Ekaterina Pavlenko told Kommersant yesterday that the company has yet to receive the court's resolution and does not know when the Moscow Arbitration Court will hear the case. Most likely, the case will be heard after Lot 19 is sold on August 15. “There is no sense in us waiting for the court proceedings, all the more so since we do not know when it will occur and cannot predict its outcome. The buyer of Lot 19 will take on all the risks associated with it,” Lashkevich said. Thus, the property being cold will formally be encumbered for $700 million, lowering the lot's cost.Experts say that the outcome of the court case will have a significant influence on the value on the assets to be sold on August 15.
Lot 19 will include 100 percent of the stock in Yukos Finance, which is registered in The Netherlands. The starting price of the lot was set by appraisers at $300 million. According to Evgeny Neiman, head of YUKOS appraiser the ROSEKO company, complications with the appraisal of the oversees assets of YUKOS made it necessary to base it on their balance-sheet value. The YUKOS foreign assets really do have a complex structure. Formally, the property does not belong to Yukos Finance, but to its wholly-owned subsidiary Yukos International UK B.V. The stock in Yukos International was transferred to the Dutch foundation Stichting Administratiekantoor Yukos International in exchange for its depositary receipts, which Yukos Finance holds.
In spite of the complexity of the ownership, the new owner of Yukos Finance will receive access to the main foreign asset of YUKOS, that is, the funds from the 2006 sale of 53 percent of the Lithuanian refinery Mazeikiu Nafta.
The $1.2 billion paid for the share in the refinery is now being held in a depositary account in a Baltic bank.That is the same money to which the Dutch court acknowledged Moravel's claim, as well as Rosneft, which is demanding $455 million. Rosneft was able to have its claims included in the register of creditors' demands in Russia, however. The money in the bankruptcy assets is enough to pay all creditors, so Rosneft is not making any claims against YUKOS overseas assets now. If the Russian arbitration court acknowledges the debt to Moravel, it will also receive money from the YUKOS bankruptcy proceedings and will be excluded from its overseas creditors. “Seeking one and the same debt from two sources is not possible, so if Moravel receives money in Russia, it can't make a claim for it in The Netherlands,” explained Yuly Tai, a lawyer at the Bartolius firm. As a result, the buyer of Lot 19 will receive full control over the $1.2 billion from the sale of Mazeikiu Nafta.
The cost of the assets may rise by $100 million from 49 percent of the Slovakian pipeline company Transpetrol. That share, like the Maziekiu Nafta stock, was transferred to Yukos International, but it was done without the permission of the Slovakian government, owner of 51 percent of the company, which led to a number of legal problems. A new board of directors and supervisory board is to be elected at the Transpetrol stockholders meeting on July 31, but a new owner of Yukos Finance will most likely settle the issues with the Transpetrol stock. Gazprom Neft has shown interest in Transpetrol, and therefore Yukos Finance. Kommersant has learned that it held negotiations with Yukos Finance directors Sergey Shmelkov and L.J. Hogerbrugge (who were appointed by YUKOS bankruptcy manager Eduard Rebgun) on a settlement to its legal problems. The Wall Street Journal Polska reported yesterday that the Polish operator of the Druzhba pipeline, PERN Przyjazn S.A. also wants to contend for the 49-percen share in Transpetrol and may participate in the auction for Lot 19. Lashkevich said, however, that he was unaware of the company's interest and the Russian Federal Property Fund, the organizer of the auction, would not confirm that PERN Przyjazn had filed an application for it.
Industry analysts say that the most likely buyer of Lot 19 is Rosneft. “The company has already taken part in court proceedings connected with Yukos Finance in The Netherlands, trying to get money from it,” noted KIT Finance analyst Dmitry Tsaregorodtsev. “It has acquired almost all YUKOS assets and one more purchase won't be a problem for it.” Indirect confirmation of that can be seen in the fact that Rosneft has two representatives on the YUKOS creditors committee, which forms the lots, while other potential participants in the auctions have no representation there. “The purchase of the asset, with the encumbrance removed, would be highly profitable and usually decisions of such deals are made based on insider information,” Tai suggested. He said that, besides the bankruptcy manager, the creditors committee, appraiser and YUKOS accounts have access to such information.
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