The government has officially accepted a State Property Ministry proposal to sell 85 percent of state-owned Onako, the nation's 12th-largest oil producer, through a tender to be announced Wednesday.
"Now we must agree to the particular conditions of the sale with other departments," said a source at the State Property Ministry. On Tuesday evening, the ministry needed only two more permits from other departments.
The winner of the tender will be required to pay about 125,000 rubles ($4,500) to Dresdner Kleinwort Benson bank, which evaluated the 85 percent stake of Onako for the State Property Ministry, sources said.
The ministry's proposal of a $400 million minimum bid for the 85 percent stake is expected to be approved by the interdepartmental committee responsible for confirming the starting price, sources said.
"Immediately after this we will begin taking bids," said a State Property Ministry representative who declined to be named.
Officials are worried by the actions of potential buyer Yukos, which has already bought up a blocking stake in Onako's main subsidiary, the Ural Mountains-based Orenburgneft production unit. The State Property Ministry believes that by increasing its influence within Onako, Yukos is trying to drive competitors away and lower the sale price.
Officials want to stop Yukos from doing this in the future.
"The Anti-Monopoly Ministry must forbid Yukos from buying shares during the time the tender is being held. We will request that the government issues the Anti-Monopoly Ministry additional instructions to this effect," said a highly placed official at the State Property Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Potential Onako buyers are keeping quiet about their plans regarding the tender.
Yukos, LUKoil and Sibneft representatives have said that until the terms and conditions of the tender are announced they have no official comment, but none of them have said they will be dropping out.
But an earlier proposal for Yukos and LUKoil to make a joint bid for Onako has fallen apart.
Reuters has reported LUKoil vice president Leonid Fedun as saying in an interview that cooperation between the two companies was no longer being considered.
A few days later at a shareholders meeting, the head of Yukos, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said, "[After such an announcement] we consider ourselves to have been released from any obligations to LUKoil."
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