Obscure Russian Company Buys Yukos Unit

[Rose Siding]

MOSCOW - A little known Russian organization, Baikalfinansgroup, bought the core production unit of the troubled Yukos oil company at auction for $9.3 billion Sunday, gaining control of one of Russia's most prized oil assets.

Virtually nothing is known about the winner except the fact that it is registered in the central Russian city of Tver.

The auction of Yuganskneftegaz went ahead despite a U.S. court injunction, issued after Yukos — which supplies two percent of the world's oil — filed for bankruptcy in a last-ditch attempt to stop the sale.

The second of two bidders, the state-controlled Gazpromneft company, had widely been expected to make the successful bid for Yuganskneftegaz.

However, Gazpromneft's representatives didn't move when Baikalfinansgroup offered to pay $9.3 billion for the stock, just over the $8.8 billion starting price set by the government — far below what Yukos says the unit is worth. The Russian government ostensibly auctioned the unit to help pay off $28 billion in back taxes it says Yukos owes.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=716&e=7&u=/ap/20041219/ap_on_bi_ge/russia_oil_fight

[jmcgowanjm]

1. western banks had frozen Gazprom's line of credit

after USBankruptcy judges order.

Earlier Friday, an official at the Russian Federal Property Fund,
the agency conducting the auction, said Friday the sale
would continue as planned. Spokesman Alexander
Komarov declined to say how many companies
were participating.

However, the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service said Friday a
fourth bidder would be participating in the auction.
Spokesman Pavel Melnikov said Baikalfinansgroup would
also be participating.

http://money.canoe.ca/News/Sectors/Energy/2004/05/25/472562-ap.html

[priller]

2. Not that anyone's paying attention, but

I'm sure the ties between BaikalFinansGroup and Putin and his loyal retainers will soon trickle out. I'm sure Bush tickled pink by his "soul mate" extracting revenge in such a blatant, corrupt manner. No doubt Bush fondly looks forward to the day when he can yield that kind of crushing power!

[jmcgowanjm]

3. A senior Russian government official said Gazprom

the state-favoured buyer, should heed a Houston court
order banning it from bidding at the auction, Dow
Jones Newswires reported.

Enter Baikalfinansgroup-

More powerful than Exxon

Faster than a speeding US
court order

Able to leap tall lines of credit
in a single bound

Hmmm- Vladimir 2- Bush 0

[jmcgowanjm]

5. Although two other largely unknown companies have submitted bids for Yukos

Although two other largely unknown companies have
submitted bids for Yukos (plus BFG), their presence was
seen as purely an effort to make the auction seem valid.
Foreign suitors, including companies from China, India
and other energy investors, have been discouraged
from participating in the bidding process.

http://tbrnews.org/Archives/a1262.htm

[snippy]

4. It would not surprise me if Pooty Poot cancels the result of this auction.

Depending on who owns and controls Baikalfinansgroup of course.

[Rose Siding]

6. Google has nothing on this company beyond today's auction

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Baikalfinansgroup&btnG=Search

[On the Road]

7. I Was Almost Prepared to Say Putin Was Doing the Right Thing

by renationalizing some of the nationalized resources that had been auctioned off at a discount. If Putin is behind the new mystery bidder, it looks like he's just another gangster.

[Minstrel Boy]

8. I wonder who they are?

There is nothing on "Baikalfinansgroup" before its late addition to the auction, after the consortium led by Deutsche Bank froze Gazprom's anticipated line of credit.

Deutsche Bank, remember, was the hub of 9/11 insider trading, and has a cozy relationship with the CIA and its money laundering.

Wonder who's playing who here?

[NNN0LHI]

9. Who appears to be a powerful group of former KGB officers

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1504&ncid=1504&e=2&u=/afp/20041219/ts_afp/russiaenergyoil_041219150734

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia dismantled the country's top private oil group as it auctioned off Yukos' core production subsidiary in a forced sale that handed the jewel asset to a mystery bidder possibly linked to state-run gas giant Gazprom.

Defying an 11th-hour US legal order barring the sale, the Russian government sold off Yukos' flagship Siberian oil-pumping arm, Yuganskneftegaz, for 9.35 billion dollars (7.02 billion euros), to the previously unknown Baikalfinansgroup. snip

The unprecedented destruction of Russia's most successful firm is seen in Moscow as the brainchild of the Kremlin, where a powerful group of former KGB officers hold sway in President Vladimir Putin's court.

With geopolitical rivalry growing between the West and Russia, shown by the bitter row over disputed presidential elections in Ukraine, regaining control of vital oil resources that were privatized in the 1990s has become a national security priority, analysts say.

"By doing so, the state will have restored its previous control over a big piece of an industry that is not only the most important element in the local economy, but along with natural gas, is increasingly the modern equivalent of military might," Christopher Weafer, chief strategist at Alfa Bank, said.

more

[jmcgowanjm]

10. RUSSIA HURRIES TO PAY OFF PARIS CLUB DEBT

http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5222002&startrow=51&date=2004-12-17&do_alert=0

[jmcgowanjm]

11. Good luck on this one

Menatep lawyers, who were excluded from observing
the auction, said they would retaliate by seeking injunctions
in foreign courts to impound Russian oil and gas
exports.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4108509.stm