Last week, one of the largest deals on the acquisition of certain oil assets in recent years - the sale of the company "Sladkovsko-Zarechnoye" in the Orenburg region with reserves of about 80 million tons was held on the Russian market. Sladkovsko-Zarechnoye owns mining licenses for three fields in the Orenburg region - Sladkovsko-Zarechnoye (reserves of about 44 million tons of oil and condensate), Koshinskoye (C1 + C2 - 24 million tons of oil and 18 billion cubic meters of gas) and Yasnaya Polyana (11 million Tons of oil and 4 billion cubic meters of gas).

Public owners of "Sladkovsko-Zarechny" were not named. According to Kommersant, until 2012 the asset belonged to the group "Metalloinvest" Alisher Usmanov, which acquired it in 2008 for $ 100 million, hoping to further extract gas for its own enterprises. In March 2012, Rosnedra issued "Sladkovsko-Zarechnoy" licenses for Koshinsky and Yasnaya Polyana sites for 18 million rubles. Three months later, Metalloinvest held a deal to sell the holding company's assets for $ 125 million. Forbes believes that the current sale went through other companies connected with Usmanov. The USM did not respond to the Forbes request.

With the buyer, the question is also vague. Earlier, FAS reported that the Cyprus Dolmer Enterprises, which owns "Neftisoy" Mikhail Gutseriev F 20, agreed on the purchase of LLC "Sladkovsko-Zarechnoe" from the Cyprus SZ Regionoil Holdings, it follows from the message of the service. As reported by Kommersant, according to the Cyprus registry, 0.0098% in SZ Regionoil Holdings belonged to Tatiana Lukyanova, and the rest - Zen Promotion Inc., registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The conduct of a transaction between companies in Cyprus may be related to tax optimization. According to the partner of Paragon Advice Group Alexander Zakharov, the income from a deal between Cypriot companies selling shares in a Russian LLC or AO shares is exempt from Cypriot income tax, which is usually paid at a rate of 12.5%. "If the transaction took place in the Russian tax jurisdiction, then there would be a profit tax of 20%. Usually, raw materials licenses are sold. Such an operation is a common practice, "Zakharov explains.

The deal was not disclosed, but according to a source close to the deal, it was $ 270 million. The purchase would allow Neftis to increase its reserves by about a third. The company Gutseriev argue that they did not receive "Sladkovsko-Zarechnoe" in ownership, but they know about the change of ownership of the latter. "Mikhail Gutseriev's companies did not buy out the Sladkovsko-Zarechnoye field. However, the company "Neftis" provides operator services to develop the field to the new owner of the deposit, "the press service of Neftis said. Participants in the deal in Neftis are not disclosed.

"Neftis" - the second largest oil and gas asset of the Gutseriev family after "Russneft", production for 2016 amounted to 6.9 million tons. Mikhail Gutseriev explained the creation of Neftis in 2008 by the fact that it was already impossible to raise funds for Russneft, with its high debt burden. It was assumed that during the IPO of Russneft, the companies would be merged. But that did not happen.

According to Karen Dashyan, managing director of Advance Capital, "Sladkovsko-Zarechnoye" is a large asset with a great development potential, well-studied geology and high reservoir productivity. In his opinion, it can cost more than $ 300 million, given the good knowledge and high well rates. "Neftis, as the operator of this asset, has both competencies and resources to create additional value and development," Karen Dashyan said.

The Gutseriev family owns a number of assets in the Orenburg region. Among them - the company "Preobrazhenskneft" and "Forteinvest".