Moscow - A stake of 20%-25% would be enough for the state to control Rosneft if the oil company has a large enough free float, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper.
Medvedev said owning a controlling stake was not, in the legal sense, mandatory for the state to retain levers of influence.
“What do we mean by preserving control? The controlling stake [which is 50% plus one share in Russian law] is very rarely concentrated in one pair of hands in world practice. If ownership is spread out, then it would be enough to have 20%-25% if the free float is significant,” Medvedev told the paper.
Russia currently owns 75.16% of Rosneft via Rosneftegaz. That stake will soon decrease: a 5.66% interest from the Rosneftegaz stake will go to BP as part of the TNK-BP sale, and the British company will own 19.75% of Rosneft as a result.
BP itself is a classic example of a large free float. If last year’s aborted strategic partnership deal and equity swap between BP and Rosneft had gone ahead the Russian company would have become the biggest co-owner in BP with just 5%.
Medvedev said there had been no decisions yet regarding the further privatization of Rosneft.
“There’s no final decision. Practical parameters have to come first. Is it beneficial to pull out of the company entirely? What can we raise from the sale?”
“This is currently a very big and [with the TNK-BP buy] it’ll be the biggest player on the oil market, but at least it’s a state company which is subject to privatization. Right now this is a very large company and it will, with the acquisition, become more expensive, its capitalization will grow, dividends will grow and so will revenue from the privatization of Rosneft. There’ll come a time when we have to decide what to do with the controlling stake. That of course will be a separate choice, but everything up to a controlling stake can be sold, depending on the market,” Medvedev said.
Commenting on Rosneft’s takeover of TNK-BP, Medvedev said: “This is the exception rather than the rule.” “I’m always careful about these deals because I don’t think it’s right to boost the state’s stake in companies, let alone such commercially successful companies like TNK-BP. But I’ll tell you something else: if things get as far as a divorce, then the Russian Federation is not be indifferent to who the new owner will be. I won’t name the companies that could have laid claim for TNK-BP, nor the states behind them but, if the choice were to be between a Russian state company and some other companies when the future of a very large Russian oil company is at stake then I’d choose the Russian state company,” Medvedev said.
