BERLIN/FRANKFURT/LONDON, Sept 19 (Askume) – Shell (SHEL.L)
Schwedt’s majority shareholder Rosneft (ROSN.MM) will be stripped of control, but not its shares, by Berlin after energy ties between Germany and Moscow are broken in 2022. That makes trading more complicated.
Shell originally planned to sell its 37.5% stake to the British Prax Group, which was expected to be completed in the first half of 2024, “subject to partner rights and regulatory approvals”, but this has not yet been completed.
The agreement had a provision that if the deal was not completed by mid-September, both sides would have to agree on an extension or renegotiation, sources said.
One source said the delay was due to several pending lawsuits, including an attempt by Rosneft to block the sale to Prax. A German court said this week that those efforts were highly unlikely to succeed.
While the stake is valued at about 155 million to 190 million euros ($173 to $212 million), its negative equity is said to be about 14 million euros, according to sources and transaction documents reviewed by Askume.
Shell said it would continue to work with Prax to complete the sale. Prax Group said it would not comment further until the deal was completed.
Rosneft did not respond to a request for comment.
Berlin has so far not pursued a takeover of Germany’s Rosneft because of concerns about potential political fallout, though it could theoretically do so under tighter energy security rules.
Shell has wanted to give up its stake in the refinery, which supplies about 90% of Berlin’s fuel, for years, and initially hoped to sell it to Vienna-based Alkmene Group in 2021, but the deal was blocked by Rosneft.
A November ruling by Berlin’s administrative court that gave Alkmene the green light in principle to buy Shell’s stake in Schwedt complicated the process, the sources said.
(1 USD = 0.8970 EUR)
