Thin story of Gazprom's double market cap

Prior to Gazprom's shareholders' meeting, the company's officials came up with hilarious news that the Russian gas giant's market cap had doubled last year. According to a whole lot of Gazprom's partners, chaos and tension are mounting within the company. So how come its market cap suddenly zooms? The answer to that question is threefold: Firstly, investors' faith in Miller, Gazprom's CEO, and his team was steadfast a year ago. It seemed Vyakhirev's resignation was all it would have taken to make Gazprom different - open, transparent, understandable and all nine yards. Secondly, the Russian government pledged to bring down a barrier between the internal and external markets of Gazprom's stocks, thus prompting investors' stampede into buying "home" shares of the company, which would have undoubtedly run high after liberalization. And lastly, there is evidence Gazprom nearly broke its neck buying up its shares through figureheads to boost their value. Gazprom might have used its own funds for that, too.

What it boils down to is that apart from the points scored by Gazprom's management in investor's eyes in the run-up to the general shareholders' meeting, the gas giant's investors are clearly trapped. A double increase in Gazprom's market cap was fueled by a mere figment, and it is going to be felt more acutely in the time to come. The majority of investment analysts acknowledge that expectations of Miller's performance in Gazprom were unreasonably exaggerated, while all the rumors of the liberalization were a spoof. And all sober-minded analysts and investors know that perfectly well, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported.

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