The Chinese private conglomerate Cefc, rapidly growing in the domestic energy sector, will acquire 14,6% of Rosneft, the Russian oil giant, the first listed company in the world. The operation, as reported by the Reuters agency, should close for 9,1 billion dollars.
Russia thus finds a very important possibility of commercial expansion and an alternative to American and European sanctions which limit its cooperation and investments.
The share involved in the acquisition will be sold by the consortium formed by Glencore and the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar. Both had joined Rosneft last December. However, the Russian state will continue to remain the majority shareholder, with 51%. British Petroleum will also retain its 19,8% stake.
The acquisition further improves the energy alliance between Russia and China. Rosneft, according to the Financial Times, considers the agreement “positive, both for strategic and economic reasons. With current unfriendly relations with the US, they could use this operation to demonstrate that they can find friends elsewhere as well. They also demonstrate pragmatism by looking for money where there is."
After a series of postponements and denials that lasted an entire summer, it seems that the Vladivostok economic forum served to polish the final details of the agreement.
