Yukos assets may exceed 22 bln usd - insolvency administrator UPDATE |
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Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:41
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(Adds details, Yukos reaction, background)MOSCOW (AFX) - Yukos insolvency administrator Edward Rebgun said the assets of the group have been valued at more than 22 bln usd, paving the way for complete liquidation of the former Russian oil giant.The estimate was criticised by the management team loyal to its jailed former boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which operates in exile in London.'According to a preliminary evaluation, the total value of Yukos' assets could exceed 22 bln usd,' a spokesman of Rebgun said in an official statement.It remains a preliminary figure, the spokesman said, because of the are fusal' of certain overseas Yukos subsidiaries to provide the necessary information.The evaluation was carried out by the Russian valuators Roseko.Claire Davidson, a spokeswoman for Yukos managers in London, disputed the state's assessment and the need to liquidate the company, saying Yukos had previously shown creditors that the company was worth 37.7 bln usd.'This means that there was no basis to liquidate Yukos,' Davidson told AFP.MDM Bank oil and gas analyst Andrei Gromadin agreed that 22 bln usd was 'well below' the real value of the company's remaining assets, which he put at 'between 30 and 40 billion.'Once among the world's top oil producers, Yukos was demolished in a legal onslaught beginning in 2003 that was widely seen as politicised. The company's former CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested on an airstrip in Oct 2003 and is currently serving an eight-year term for financial crimes in a Siberian prison.The company's main production unit, Yuganskneftegaz, was bought by state-controlled Rosneft in Dec 2004 in a controversial forced sale for billions of dollars less than its assessed value.newsdesk@afxnews.comafp/ic/vlb/lamCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2006. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
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Yukos assets may exceed 22 bln usd - insolvency administrator 