RUSSIA: THE BAIKAL FINANCE GROUP WINS THE AUCTION FOR THE RUSSIAN OIL COMPANY YUKOS.
Record ID:
648041
RUSSIA: THE BAIKAL FINANCE GROUP WINS THE AUCTION FOR THE RUSSIAN OIL COMPANY YUKOS.
- Title: RUSSIA: THE BAIKAL FINANCE GROUP WINS THE AUCTION FOR THE RUSSIAN OIL COMPANY YUKOS.
- Date: 15th December 2004
- Summary: (W5) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 19, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. MV: POLICEMAN CHECKING IDENTIFICATION. 0.06 2. MV: POLICEMEN STANDING OUTSIDE. 0.12 (W4) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 19, 2004) (REUTERS) 3. MV: OF MENATEP GROUP LAWYERS NEWS CONFERENCE. 0.16 4. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) SANFORD SAUNDERS, MENATEP GROUP LAWYER, SAYING: "There is no reason for this auction to go forward except to accelerate the government plan to destroy YUKOS and expropriate its assets. If we will be allowed into the property fund we will watch and observe who participates whether the parties are compliant with the court order in Houston. We will see the people who we will see in courts in the near future." 0.49 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 19, 2004) (REUTERS) 5. WS: OF PRESS AND PUBLIC ROOM WITH LARGE SCREEN. 0.55 6. CU: AUCTION COMISSION SHOWN ON SCREEN. 1.03 7. MV: MEDIA. 1.11 8. CU: BIDDERS SHOWN ON SCREEN. 1.29 9. MV: OF PRESS AND PUBLIC. 1.36 10. CU: BIDDERS SHOWN ON SCREEN. 1.57 11. CU: AUCTIONEER ON SCREEN ANNOUNCING WINNER 2.26 12. PAN: OF PEOPLE AND MEDIA WATCHING BIG SCREENS. 2.41 13. CU: AUCTIONEER SPEAKING ON SCREEN. 3.11 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - NOVEMBER 2004) (REUTERS) 14. VARIOUS: OF THE EXTERIORS OF THE YUKOS HEADQUARTERS IN MOSCOW. (2 SHOTS) 3.32 MOSCOW, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 17, 2004) (REUTERS) 15. WS: OF TROIKA DIALOG TRADING FLOOR. 3.40 16. CU: BROKER WORKING IN FRONT OF SCREENS. 3.46 17. CU: SCREEN. 3.49 18. SCU: BROKERS AT TROIKA DIALOG TRADING FLOOR. 3.58 19. WS: BROKERS WORKING ON THE TROIKA DIALOG TRADING FLOOR. 4.04 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 17, 2004) (REUTERS) 20. WS: EXTERIOR OF COURT BUILDING. 4.08 (EU) MOSCOW, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) 21. VARIOUS: FORMER CEO OF YUKOS MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY AND CO-DEFENDANT PLATON LEBEDEV BEHIND BARS IN COURT. 4.21 (W7) MOSCOW, RUSSIA(DECEMBER 19, 2004) (REUTERS) 22. WS: OF AUCTION COMMISSION MEMBERS AT PRESS CONFERENCE. 4.25 23. SCU: PEOPLE LISTENING. 4.29 24. CU: (SOUNDBITE)(Russian) YURI SAVIN, CHAIRMAN OF AUCTION COMMISSION, SAYING, "There were two bidders who took part in auction after that the winner was announced - Baikal Finance Group." 4.51 25. SCU: JOURNALISTS. 4.56 26. WS: OF PRESS CONFERENCE. 5.02 27. SCU: (SOUNDBITE)(Russian) YURI PETROV, ACTING CHIEF OF FEDERAL PROPERTY FUND, SAYING, "It is a surprise for all of us as well as for you. We know nothing about this company." 5.18 28. MV: MEDIA PHOTOGRAPHERS. 5.26 29. WS/PULL IN: (SOUNDBITE)(Russian) YURI PETROV, ACTING CHIEF OF FEDERAL PROPERTY FUND, SAYING, "If the winner Baikal Finance Group will not pay money in time they suffer financially and lose 1'7 billion dollars, the decision will be made by bailiffs." 5.56 (EU) NEFTEYUGANSK, SIBERIA, RUSSIA (FILE - SEPTEMBER 2004) (REUTERS) 30. VARIOUS: OF YUKOS'S MAIN OPERATING UNIT, YUGANSKNEFTEGAZ/ OIL PUMPS IN OPERATION. (5 SHOTS) 6.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 30th December 2004 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA4YUP2V6DV14G8D6J46FSAVP92
- Story Text: Unknown firm Baikal wins YUKOS auction.
Baikal Finance Group, an unknown company, won an
auction for Russian oil company's YUKOS's YUKO.RTS> core
asset on Sunday(December 19) with a $9.4 billion bid and
analysts said whomever was behind the bid enjoyed Kremlin
favor.
Gazprom GAZPq.L>, which had been favored to win but
was outbid, declared it had no links to Baikal. Analysts
still believed the state-controlled gas giant or other
state interests may have had a hand in the winning bid for
Yuganskneftegaz.
YUKOS is widely seen by analysts as the victim of a
Kremlin campaign to crush its politically ambitious owner,
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and seize control of strategic
sectors of the economy sold off in the chaotic
privatizations of the 1990s.
Khodorkovsky is now on trial for fraud and tax evasion
and faces 10 years in jail if convicted.
Baikal, named after a huge Siberian freshwater lake in
the heartland of Russia's oil industry, bid 260.75 billion
rubles ($9.4 billion) for Yuganskneftegaz, said the sale's
organizer, the Federal Property Fund.
Under Russian law the government can order a new
auction or seize Yugansk in lieu of unpaid taxes if Baikal
fails to pay the full amount it has bid within 14 days.
The sale of Yuganskneftegaz, which pumps more oil than
OPEC member Qatar, went ahead despite a U.S. court order
barring Gazprom and its foreign bankers from bidding,
pending further proceedings in YUKOS's application for U.S.
Chapter 11bankruptcy protection.
Baikal, which was not one of three originally
registered bidders including Gazprom, may have been a
hastily assembled vehicle allowing Russian state interests
to get around the U.S. court order, one analyst said.
Russian news agency Itar-Tass said one of its
reporters had checked the address given by Baikal in the
town of Tver, 200 km (125 miles) outside Moscow, and had
found a building housing a mobile phone shop and a food
store.
The auction was ordered to raise funds to help pay
YUKOS's $27.5 billion back-tax bill, the result of a
relentless assault by the authorities which analysts say is
aimed at breaking up the company.
It leaves YUKOS stripped of its main asset, which pumps
about 1 million barrels of oil a day. The company may file
for liquidation to protect its remaining assets from forced
sale.
The assault on YUKOS has also shaken investment
confidence in President Vladimir Putin's Russia, where the
economy is showing signs of slowing despite high oil prices.
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