Plans to ditch the name could signal that Gazprom wants to relegate to the past some of the memories that the Sibneft name evokes, experts said. The move also signals that Russian companies are becoming increasingly aware of brand value, other experts said.
There are moves afoot to sell the brand, said Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov, without revealing whether there were any bidders in the pipeline. He added that the $500 million price tag cited in a Vedomosti report was "a very high estimate."
Earlier this year, state-owned Gazprom bought 72.6 percent in Sibneft, the country's No. 5 oil firm. The $13 billion purchase from Millhouse Capital, which holds assets belonging to Abramovich, increased Gazprom's holding in Sibneft to 75.7 percent.
"The name is associated with conflict," Peter Westin, chief economist at MDM Bank, said of Sibneft. To some observers, the name Sibneft means Abramovich, a man widely regarded as a darling of the Kremlin, who had built his oil empire during the Yeltsin-era through get-rich-quick schemes.
Abramovich, together with Boris Berezovsky, bought the assets a decade ago for $100 million.
But others said the Abramovich connection added value. "The brand has clearly gotten weaker" without him, said Tatyana Burchilina, executive director of ratings agency Superbrand Russia. The Sibneft brand was first and foremost the Abramovich brand and the "possibilities associated with it," she said.
At a commercial level, analysts said the move was a sign that companies were counting the value of brands. "The company is acting as a prudent owner," said Irina Solovyova from Interbrand Zintzmeyer & Lux, part of Interbrand Group, which puts a monetary value on brands.
"A global energy company needs a single brand" to develop further, she said. In Interbrand's first-ever rating of Russian brands, published earlier this year, Gazprom came in 12th with a value of $186 million. In comparison, oil giant LUKoil -- the only other oil or gas company to make it onto Interbrand's list of the country's 40 most valuable brands -- was given the fifth-highest spot, with an estimated value of $688 million.
Solovyova said Interbrand noted Gazprom's rating was adjusted lower to reflect its state ownership, with that factor bringing a number of advantages.
Sibneft spokesman John Mann said selling the name would not change anything for Sibneft. "We are still a collection of great assets ... that work to the benefit of our shareholders, including our core shareholder, Gazprom," he said.
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