Beltransgaz: “We have two shareholders – the state and Gazprom”
Several media reported last week about possible problems in how to divide the shares of Beltransgaz between Belarus and Gaazprom. Belarus deputy economy minister Andrey Tur was quoted as allegedly saying the following: “It will hardly be possible to divide Beltransgas shares on the 50/50 basis, because there is a small number of individual owners who have disappeared”. The quote was disseminated by numerous news web sites.
In an interview with the European Radio for Belarus, Mr Tur denounced his statement.
“I did not voice this information. They wrote in a wrong way. I did not say this. Actually, this issue is out of my competence. They simply wrote whatever they wanted, not what I actually said”.
On May 18, 2007 Russia’s Gazprom and the State Property Committee of the Republic of Belarus signed a deal allowing Gazprom to acquire 50 percent of Beltransgaz shares for $2.5 billion. The payment would be made in four installments within 2007-2010. At every next stage, Gazprom is to acquire 12.5 percent of Beltransgaz shares.
In the other words, the sides agreed to enter into a joint venture on the parity basis, which cannot be met if there is the third owner. In this situation, we are told about some minority shareholders who could block the 50/50 division of shares. Naturally, the Russian company is concerned over these rumors.
Beltransgaz’s press office has confirmed that the disseminated information was false. “We have only two shareholders – the state and Gazprom. That’s it,” Beltransgaz said.
Valery Kramar, deputy chairman of the State Property Committee, also noted that private owners returned all the shares to the state.
“There are no private shareholders. The contract has already been signed. Under the law, workers had the right to buy the shares and exchange them with property bonds. Eventually, they voluntarily returned all their shares to the state”.
In spite of the fact that the information about private shareholders was not confirmed, economists and journalists started discussing what this “statement” could mean. Experts agree that this is a somewhat unusual beginning of the talks over gas supplies in 2008.
Yaraslau Ramanchuk: “According to official sources, there are no private shareholders at Beltransgaz. But when Tur makes such statements, it proves that the Belarusian side is not really going to meet its obligations. This is a certain pressure on Gazprom so that it doesn’t push the costs higher.
Basically, this is the war of words, nerves and positions”.
Economist Aliaksandr Chubryk also says that this is possibly the first step which proves that Belarus will be playing tough in the talks over gas supplies in 2008. The expert notes that it is very possible that “a small package of shares could in fact belong to private owners”.
“Possibly, this is a signal that we will not give up Beltransgaz…But I think the point is that the sides are entering into talks over a gas deal in 2008”.
What will Gazprom say in respond to the Belarusian forecasts?
