Vladimir Putin's classmate lawyer Nikolai Egorov, who owns 20% of the Antipinsky refinery (part of the New Stream group), plans to sell the stake - in full or leaving only a small package. We are already discussing a deal with one of the major shareholders of the refinery, the former owner of Itera Igor Makarov, but he is not satisfied with the price: according to Kommersant's information, Mr. Egorov wants to receive $ 75 million for refining at the refinery. Industry analysts are skeptical about the deal, that now is not the best time for purchases in oil refining.

Co-owner of the Antipinsky refinery (part of the New Stream group) Nikolai Egorov wants to sell 15% of it, reducing the stake to 5%, told two sources of Kommersant in the industry. Another interlocutor, close to the shareholders of the refinery, asserts that Mr. Yegorov is ready to completely exit the business. New Stream co-owners Dmitry Mazurov and Igor Makarov (former owner of Itera, now owned by the Arety group) own 40% of the refinery through the Cyprus VIKay Iindustrial ltd. The New Stream confirmed to Kommersant that Nikolay Yegorov plans to sell the stake, adding that "negotiations continue". From detailed comments in New Stream and "Arety" refused. Mr. Yegorov's representative did not answer the questions of Kommersant.

Nikolai Yegorov, co-founder of the law firm Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners and a classmate of President Vladimir Putin, joined the board of directors of the Antipinsky refinery in 2008. The plant itself was built from scratch in 2004. According to Kommersant sources, Mr. Yegorov is well acquainted with the head of Sberbank (the main creditor of the Antipinsky refinery) German Gref and "helps the bank's customers who find themselves in difficult situations." Nikolay Egorov also owns a stake in the Zagorsky Pipe Plant near Moscow, which received an accreditation of supplies to Gazprom ahead of schedule, and a troubled OFK bank, where the Central Bank introduced an interim administration on March 21.

The Antipinsky refinery (processing capacity of 9 million tons of oil) is the largest asset of New Stream, which also owns the Mari refinery, shares in the Afip refinery, mining licenses in the Orenburg region and a terminal in the Murmansk region. Revenues of JSC Antipinsky NPZ for 2016 under RAS decreased by 5%, to 147 billion rubles., Short-term liabilities at the end of 2016 - 139 billion rubles., Net profit - 1.2 billion rubles. The company does not pay dividends chronically, and Nikolai Egorov, probably, decided to withdraw from the asset at a profit, one of Kommersant sources notes. According to New Stream, the group's revenue in 2016 is $ 3.1 billion, EDITDA is minus $ 69 million, net debt is $ 2.5 billion.

According to one of the Kommersant sources, negotiations for the sale of the stake have been going on since the end of 2017, Nikolai Egorov estimates 15% of the plant at $ 75 million, that is, the entire refinery, taking into account the debt, $ 500 million. The source of Kommersant, familiar with the plans of Mr. Yegorova, notes that there is still no clear understanding of where the proceeds from the transaction will go, but "the situation with the OFC-bank, obviously, causes discomfort."

It is assumed that the share in the refinery will be sold to one of the co-owners, but, the interlocutor of Kommersant adds, the price is very high and the buyer is not ready to pay that much money. The buyer, according to his information, is Igor Makarov, who himself only in 2017 acquired 50% in New Stream. Another source of Kommersant claims that the deal "stalled and will not happen with a high probability." Another interlocutor of Kommersant clarifies that there is an agreement on the equal participation of majority shareholders in the refinery - after the deal with Nikolai Egorov, the enterprise would pass under the control of Igor Makarov. Karen Dashyan from Advance Capital notes that the plant has significant debts, and the minority stake is not liquid and has no rights, so the negotiating position of Arety is stronger than that of Nikolai Egorov. The price of $ 75 million for this share, he believes "high enough", it can be adequate only if the seller invested in the development of the refinery (there is no information on this).

Andrei Polishchuk from Raiffeisenbank believes that now is not the best time for transactions in oil refining: "The profitability of the refinery at fairly low levels due to tax maneuver and containment of gasoline prices inside the country." Moreover, the analyst adds, the refinery may need substantial investments for modernization, and given the government's goal of low inflation, one should not expect a noticeable increase in gasoline prices.