Sibneft offers record dividend, fueling takeover speculations

07/05/05 - newratings.com

NEW YORK, July 5 (newratings.com) – The board of directors of Russia's fifth-largest oil and gas company, Sibneft, approved Monday to offer $2.29 billion in dividends to its shareholders, thus fueling speculations that the company is a potential takeover target.

Several market analysts believe that the company is exhausting its cash before a potential takeover deal. A Sibneft's spokesman said, however, that the proposed payout is in-line with the company’s policy of returning cash to shareholders over several years. Chelsea soccer club's head, Roman Abramovich, who was named by Forbes as Russia's richest man in May, controls 57.5% of Sibneft through investment firm Millhouse Capital. Earlier, the company planned to merge with Yukos but withdrew its plans later. The companies that are speculated to takeover Sibneft are Rosneft (ROGA), Gazprom (GAZ) and Royal Dutch/Shell (RD-EUR).