E.On May Sell $4Bln Gazprom Stake
Germany's E.On may soon sell its 3.5% stake in Gazprom worth $4 billion. E.On does not plan to sell the stake on the open market because of share price concerns, so a state-controlled Russian firm is thought to be the most likely buyer.
Over the past two years E.On has discussed different options of divesting from Gazprom and proposed to sell the shares to Gazprom directly, according to a source at Gazprombank.
E.On, one of Europe's biggest gas buyers, imports most of its gas from Russia and Norway and is the largest foreign shareholder in Gazprom. The company first bought into Gazprom, one of its main gas suppliers, in 1998, purchasing 2.5% of shares from the Russian government for $660 million. In an analyst report yesterday VTB Capital said it would not "rule out Gazprom itself acquiring the stake," since just last year Gazprom took back 2.9% of its ordinary shares from E.On in a large asset-swap deal.