Rosneft lodges bid for BP stake in TNK-BP: sources

LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) - State oil company Rosneft tightened its grip on the Russian oil industry on Thursday, lodging a cash and shares bid for British oil company BP's 50 percent stake in the country's third-largest oil producer, TNK-BP.

Sources familiar with the actions of BP, Rosneft, their advisers and financiers said a bid had been submitted to BP that valued the whole of TNK-BP at over $50 billion. Rosneft has already made an offer to BP's partners in the venture.

"BP is reviewing options (with regard to the offer)," said one source.

The sources in London, Moscow and elsewhere have painted a picture of a potential three-way deal that could emerge over the coming weeks, with some details set to be hammered out during a visit by Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin this week.

They said the British oil company and the four Soviet-born tycoons who own the other half of the business could emerge with minority stakes in an enlarged Rosneft plus billions of dollars in cash in exchange for a highly profitable company.

The combined group would dominate Russia's increasingly state-controlled oil industry and would be producing well over 4 million barrels of oil and gas a day - more than U.S. No.1 Exxon Mobil, the biggest producer among the world's investor-owned oil companies.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, Rosneft agreed on Tuesday to pay the tycoons' AAR consortium $28 billion. However, financial sources said it was unlikely all of this would be in cash, especially if Rosneft intends to buy out BP as well.

About $15 billion could be met through a loan agreement Rosneft has been negotiating with international banks for weeks, and it can get another $3 billion from Russian banks, said the financial sources.

However, "There is a point where raising debt would have a negative impact on Rosneft's credit rating," said one banker, while another said $20 billion was the most Rosneft can borrow without putting a strain on its ability to refinance later.

BP, Rosneft and AAR all declined comment.

(Reporting by Andrew Callus in London and Doug Busvine in Moscow, Writing by Sarah Young; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bp-receives-offer-rosneft-stake-tnk-bp-100916505--finance.html

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