MOSCOW (MRC) -- The board of Russian oil firm TNK-BP Holding, controlled by state-controlled Rosneft, has recommended the company pay no dividends for 2012 in a move that investors have warned could damp interest in Russian stocks, reported The Wall Street Journal with reference to TNK-BP's announcement.
As MRC wrote previously, Rosneft acquired a 95% stake in TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil company, on March 21 from BP PLC (BP) and its partners, a group of Soviet-born tycoons.
Minority shareholders in TNK-BP had hoped for a share swap, a large dividend or a buyout on similar terms to the deals, worth a total of $60 billion. But Rosneft Chief Executive Igor Sechin has said there will be no buyout. He said May 23 that dividends will be paid out at 25% of net profit from March 21, when Rosneft's deals to take over TNK-BP closed. The company's previous owners are responsible for any dividends for before that date, he said.
Rosneft said Thursday it is setting up a committee to work with minority shareholders.
After buying TNK-BP, Rosneft has become the world's largest public oil company. The company accounts for about 5% of global oil production, and its proven reserves by the international category will exceed 5 billion tonnes of oil equivalent.
MRC