Gazprom to Control Russian Generator

                                                                                         

Gazprom is set to gain control of the Russian power generator OGK- 6 after spending almost 21 billion rubles on new shares of the utility. Gazprom said Tuesday that it had paid 3.8 rubles per share for 5.5 billion shares in OGK-6 in a deal valued at $850 million. That represented 46.6 percent of the new shares offered by OGK-6, based in Moscow.
Gazprom, which completed the transaction via its Gazenergoprom- Invest unit, had options on 51.8 percent of OGK-6 before the sale as part of a share-swap agreement with Unified Energy System, the national utility. Unified Energy, the state-controlled parent of OGK- 6, allowed its minority shareholders to swap shares in units before it is dismantled in July 2008. The board of Unified Energy approved the share-swap plan in July, allowing Gazprom to take control of a third of Russia's wholesale electricity generation capacity, including OGK-6 and OGK-2, also based in Moscow. The arrangement gives Gazprom influence over power supplies as far away as Siberia and in cities including Moscow and St. Petersburg.
After purchasing the 5.5 billion new shares, Gazprom will own a little more than 50 percent of OGK-6 following the breakup of Unified Energy, according to Bloomberg calculations. OGK-6, which is raising cash to build another 1,270 megawatts of capacity by 2012, did not say who acquired the other shares. The sale is to end Saturday. OGK-6 may hold a second share sale in 2008, list in London, or auction a blocking stake to a long-term investor other than Gazprom to raise more cash, the Unified Energy chief executive, Anatoly Chubais, said last month.

About the author:
Velimir Lackovic runs internet portal "Energetika" ( http://www.energetika.co.yu )
dedicated to renewable energy sources,oil gas and energy efficiency. Velimir has
completed gratuadte studies in power systems engineering and
has industry experiance of over 20 years in this field.

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