The first lot will be Yukos's 9.44% stake in Russia's leading state-run crude producer, Rosneft. Two bidders for the stake are RN-Razvitiye, Rosneft's 100% company, and Samotlorneftegaz, a subsidiary of the British-Russian joint venture TNK-BP.
RN-Razvitiye has applied with the anti-monopoly authorities for the stake and taken out a $9 billion loan to pay for the acquisition.
"Rosneft presently has a substantial imbalance between upstream and downstream - we produce much more oil than we have the capacity to refine, and we are therefore interested in the auction," Rosneft President Sergei Bogdanchikov was quoted by the company's press service as saying.
TNK-BP announced its plans to bid for the Rosneft stake on the last day of bidding, March 23.
"Bidding at the auction and acquisition of the stake will help consolidate strategic relations with Rosneft and initiate joint projects," Alexander Shchadrin, spokesman for TNK-BP, said.
The Rosneft stake is going to be sold in a single lot with an initial price of 195.5 billion rubles ($7.5 billion). The first lot will also include promissory notes worth 3.6 billion rubles ($139 million) in Yuganskneftegaz, formerly Yukos's core production unit, which is now controlled by Rosneft.
Following a decision by the creditors' committee, Russia's Federal Property Fund said the assets would be auctioned off in three rounds. The second lot will include Yukos's 20% stake in Gazprom Neft [RTS: SIBN], formerly Sibneft, as well as in 21 other assets.
Yukos's loan totals 709 billion rubles ($27.3 billion at the current exchange rate). Yukos's bankruptcy receiver, Eduard Rebgun, said in early March that estimates had put the initial value of the company at $27 billion. Once Russia's leading crude producer, Yukos was declared bankrupt in August.
