Cash-Pulling

Rosneft became the world’s largest publicly traded oil producer through the TNK-BP deal with output of more than 4 million barrels of crude a day, exceeding the output of Canada or Iraq. The company may borrow about $9. 7 billion from TNK-BP, including as much as $3. 6 billion from TNK-BP Holding, after its March 21 board decision.

Cash-pulling is a standard practice and allows the company to manage liquidity, a Rosneft official said when the board decision was announced on March 26, asking not to be identified in line with corporate policy. The official didn’t immediately respond yesterday to a request for comment on borrowing plans or possible distribution of TNK-BP profit.

BP Plc (BP/), which owns almost 20 percent of Rosneft after using $4. 87 billion of the proceeds from selling its half of TNK-BP to buy the state company’s stock, declined to comment, Vladimir Buyanov, a spokesman in Moscow, said by e-mail.

Not ‘Human’

Rosneft isn’t obliged to buy out minorities because the TNK-BP venture holds the traded unit through a chain of subsidiaries, Westman said. Still, “profit in TNK-BP belongs to all shareholders” and Rosneft could avoid exposure to double taxation on dividends by eliminating the intermediary companies registered outside Russia, he said.

Prosperity sold some of its TNK-BP shares last year, Westman said, declining to disclose its current holding.

“Although formally this is legal, this isn’t a very humane move toward investors, ” Oleg Popov, who manages about $1 billion in assets for Allianz Investments, the asset management arm of Europe’s biggest insurer, said by phone in Moscow. Allianz sold its remaining TNK-BP Holding shares after Rosneft closed the deal on March 21, he said.

“I’m glad that we sold most of our shares back in the fall, ” Popov said. “This used to be a really great company with high dividends, now we’ll have to look for a replacement. ”

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