Russian Sibneft Defends Stake Sale

Russia's sixth-largest oil producer Sibneft made a profit by reselling a 27 percent treasury stake back to the company's core shareholders, a deal benefiting all its shareholders, company officials said on Tuesday. But Sibneft said terms of the deal would be disclosed only in its full year GAAP accounts, and that its disclosure over the stake sale was not ideal. "The deal that was just concluded is profitable for the company. We have been as open as we can," Sibneft's head of corporate finance Richard Creitzman told a conference call with investors. Shareholders and analysts have criticized Sibneft for failing to offer the 27 percent stake to all shareholders, rather than just core shareholders. Sibneft says its core shareholders are former and current management of the company. Roman Abramovich, a member of Russia's oligarchy who is now governor of the remote Siberian Chukotka region, has said he is among them. Sibneft spokesman Nick Halliwell said the benefits of the transaction would be passed on to shareholders via dividends, the Russia Journal wrote.