VTB will again finance the purchase of shares of Rosneft by foreigners

The bank has already offered 5.1 billion euros to the Chinese CEFC, and now does not rule out a loan to the Qatar Investment Authority, which will collect almost 19% of Rosneft's shares.
07.05.2018
Kommersant
Origin source
The purchase of almost all of Glencore's share in the purchase of QIA by Qatar at Rosneft, with the consolidation of about 19% of its shares, is ready to finance VTB. The other day Glencore announced a break in the deal with CEFC, which wanted to buy a 14.16% stake in Rosneft, and also borrowed a significant portion of the funds from VTB. But the Chinese have problems - both with the financing of the acquisition, and with the Chinese authorities. As part of the deal with QIA, Kommersant sources in the industry are not expecting difficulties, but they admit that the recently announced buy back of Rosneft shares may be called upon to support quotations in the interests of the new large shareholder.

VTB is ready to finance the consolidation of the Qatar investment fund QIA 18.93% stake in Rosneft from the Swiss trader Glencore, said the head of the bank Andrei Kostin: "We are always ready to lend, it's our job. We all can. "

On the very transaction Glencore, which in the framework of a parity consortium with QIA in late 2016 acquired a 19.5% stake in Rosneft, announced on May 4. QIA decided to increase the stake in the oil company after the failure of the deal with the Chinese CEFC. The company planned to buy 14.16% of Rosneft shares for about $ 9 billion, but it itself had financial and political problems. For the Chinese, VTB also opened a € 5bn credit line, which was closed after the deal was disrupted. Now the bank does not comment on the words of its leader and possible negotiations with QIA.

Now the consortium QIA and Glencore are being liquidated, the parties will own Rosneft's securities directly and the Qatari fund will buy out almost the whole package of the trader. As a result, following the results of the transaction, QIA should receive 18.93% of Rosneft shares, becoming its second largest foreign shareholder after BP (19.75%), Glencore will retain 0.57%. In Rosneft, the fund is called a "new strategic partner" and promises additional agreements without revealing their essence.

QIA has to pay Glencore € 3.7 billion to the trader to fully pay off his share of the loan, attracted a year and a half ago as part of the initial acquisition of Rosneft shares.

The interlocutor of Kommersant, close to one of the parties to the deal, doubts that the Qatarians will have to borrow, because the fund has enough money.

At the same time, on May 1, Rosneft announced a buy back of shares worth $ 2 billion, which it plans to sell in 2018-2020. Such mechanisms are often used to support stock quotes, and if QIA attracted bank financing for the transaction and laid part of its stake, the availability of such "insurance" may be important for banks.

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