Russian Oil Giant Prepares World's Largest IPO

In the favorable situation of rising oil prices, Russian state-owned oil company OAO Ros-neft is currently planning a listing plan with a fundraising amount of up to 20 billion U.S. dollars. The size of this IPO will exceed the amount raised by Japan's NTT DoCoMo IPO in 1998. It is expected that Become the world's largest IPO.

According to foreign reports, Rosneft President Bogdan Chekov submitted the IPO plan to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. He also called the IPO "a major investment in the liberalization of the Russian economy."

According to the prospectus plan, Rosneft's IPO will raise US$20 billion, accounting for 49% of Rosneft's shares. Since the stocks of its subsidiaries are thinly traded, investors holding shares of Rosneft's companies can convert these shares into Rosneft. stocks, Rosneft will therefore likely become a major blue-chip stock in Russia. Bogdanchikov said in a statement that the integration will be an important milestone in the company's development history, help Rosneft streamline its business, and ordinary Russians will have the opportunity to buy stocks, but this integration The plan still needs to be approved by the shareholders' meeting to be held on June 2.

In fact, many of Rosneft’s companies now have minority shareholders left over from privatizations in the 1990s. In this regard, Rosneft announced the share exchange ratio between its 12 largest companies and Rosneft shares, as well as the cash purchase price available to investors who sold the shares. Bogdanchikov called the terms of the integration "fair and reasonable," saying the figures were based on valuations from major investment banks such as Deloitte and Morgan Stanley.

According to the IPO plan, the biggest beneficiary of this integration process is Yukos Petroleum Company. Since Yukos still holds 23% of the non-voting shares of the Siberian company that has been taken over by Rosneft, according to the share exchange ratio, Yukos can exchange for 9.7% of the shares of Rosneft. In this way, Yukos may become the company that has so far By far the largest minority shareholder of Rosneft.

However, some critics pointed out that this transaction was actually disgraceful, saying that the Russian government wanted to use this to legalize the dismantling of Yukos Oil Company, and expected that by the end of this year, when the integration is completed, Rosneft may have been controlled through the bankruptcy process that has been initiated. Yukos Oil Company.