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BaikalfinansgroupBaikalfinansgroup (Russian: Байкалфинансгруп) is a Russian energy group that won the December 19, 2004 auction for a 76.79% share in Yukos's main oil production center, Yuganskneftegaz, with a bid of 261 billion rubles ($9.3 billion US), on December 19, 2004. Profile The company is registered in the western Russian city of Tver and is apparently named after Lake Baikal in Siberia. Baikalfinansgroup does not even have an office: the address provided by the company hosts a vodka bar, a mobile phone shop, a tour operator agency and the offices of several small local companies, but no office of Baikalfinansgroup. Virtually nothing is known about the finances of Baikalfinansgroup, and there is currently no information regarding its involvement in previous transactions or its assets. Unnamed sources of various Russian newspapers report that Baikalfinans group was registered either on December 3, 2004 or December 6, 2004, just a few weeks before the Yuganskneftegaz auction. There are conflicting reports about its owners. Despite its obscurity, the company has been able to secure a credit of $1.7 billion from the state-owned Sberbank savings bank as a down-payment for participating in the auction. On December 21, 2004, the Russian president Vladimir Putin admitted that he knows the owners of Baikalfinansgroup. Putin did not diclose their names but said that the owners are a group of individuals with many years of experience in energy business. Yuganskneftegaz auction Yuganskneftegaz was the main asset of the Yukos oil company, run by the Russian businessmen Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In 2003, the Russian government charged Yukos and Khodorkovsky with large-scale tax evasion. In December 2003, Yukos was ordered to pay $3.5 billion US in back taxes. The Russian government then seized Yuganskneftegaz from Yukos. The auction took place on December 19, 2004. Only two companies participated: Gazprom and Baikalfinansgroup. Gazprom bid the initial price, then Baikalfinansgroup increased the bid to $9.3 billion US. Gazprom did not respond to this bid, lending credence to some observers' belief that Baikalfinansgroup was merely acting as a front for Gazprom. The outcome has caused considerable uncertainty in international oil markets, as it leaves 10% of Russian oil production in unknown hands. Four days before the auction, on December 15, 2004, Yukos had filed for a bankruptcy in a Houston court, requesting the auction of Yugansneftegaz to be cancelled. On the next day, December 16, a group of Western banks refused Gazprom a loan for the purchase of Yuganskneftegaz. On the same day, the previously unknown Baikalfinansgroup applied to participiate in the auction. Speculations Analysts have suggested three versions about Baikalfinansgroup. According to the first version, Baikalfinansgroup is a front for Gazprom. Gazprom was unable to secure the funding for the purchase from Western banks and may have been unwilling to seek the funding from Russian banks, due to the risk of the Houston court taking action against Gazprom assets. The second version is that Baikalfinansgroup may be a front for the secretive pro-government Surgutneftegaz company, Russia's fourth biggest energy supplier, which has extensive business interests in Tver. The Vedomosti and Gazeta newspapers reported that the man and woman representing Baikalfinansgroup at the auction are both employees of Surgutneftegaz and identified them as Igor Minibayev, an administrative manager, and Valentina Komarova, deputy head of Surgutneftegaz's finance division. Third, Baikalfinansgroup could be a front for the Russian government itself. The company must pay the full auction price within two weeks; if it defaults, the auction is declared to be invalid. Then, Yuganskneftegaz would become state property and can then be assigned wherever the Russian government wishes. Purchase by Rosneft On December 22, Associated Press reported that, according to Interfax and ITAR-TASS, Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft purchased all of Baikalfinansgroup's share. Earlier during the year, Rosneft agreed to merge with Gazprom. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=509&ncid=732&e=4&u=/ap/20041222/ap_on_bi_ge/russia_oil_fight External links
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