Putin Sheds Some Light on Buyer of a Yukos Unit
By C. J. CHIVERS
Published: December 22, 2004
Carsten Rehder/European Pressphoto Agency
Vladimir V. Putin, the president of Russia, said on Tuesday that he thought the Baikal Finans Group, the mysterious company that bought a major part of the oil giant Yukos, probably intended to work some deals with other Russian energy companies in relation to the property.
MOSCOW, Dec. 21 - President Vladimir V. Putin offered the first official insight on Tuesday into purchasers of the largest subsidiary of the oil giant Yukos, and suggested that these secretive buyers, as had been suspected, might transfer the assets to other owners.
"The shareholders of that company are exclusively private individuals," Mr. Putin said in remarks broadcast from Germany, where he is on an official visit. "But they are individuals who have for many years engaged in the energy business."
Mr. Putin further hinted that the new owners would not have, or maintain, exclusive control over their rich new holding, as analysts had said. "As far as I know, they intend to establish certain relationships with other Russian energy companies, which may be interested in this asset," he said.
Speculation has swirled around the identity of the buyers of Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos's top-producing subsidiary, since it was bought Sunday in a six-minute auction by the Baikal Finans Group, a company not heard of until just before the sale.
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