MOSCOW (Reuters UK) - Russia's TNK-BP Holding (TNBPI), a listed subsidiary of BP's (BP) TNK-BP joint venture with Russian billionaires, offered on Friday a buyout to minority shareholders as it prepares for a bigger share float.
BP and its Russian and Russia-connected partners signed on Thursday a memorandum ending months of open disputes over the firm's management and development strategy.
The two sides agreed to reshuffle TNK-BP's management and proceed with an initial public offering of up to 20 percent of a new firm, which will combine TNK-BP Holding with some other assets, including oil venture Slavneft.
On Friday, TNK-BP Holding said in a statement in Rossiiskaya Gazeta it would buy out shares of any holders who voted against merging TNK-BP Holding with companies such as Sborsare Management, Sidanco Investments, Sidanco Neftepererabotka and Sidanco Securities.
A TNK-BP official told Reuters those companies controlled shares in Slavneft and other assets to be merged with TNK-BP Holding. The buyout offer was set at 48.94 rouble for one ordinary and one preferred share.
The firm also said on Friday TNK-BP Holding could pay 100 percent of net profits for the first half of 2008 in dividends.
"All shareholders will receive a dividend based on the distribution of 100 percent of first-half income calculated according to Russian Accounting Standards," the firm said in a statement.
The shareholders will vote on the dividend payment at an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGM) on September 30.
The statement said this distribution of dividends was in line with previous payments and continued the established practice of paying dividends twice a year.
TNK-BP's ordinary stock rose 2.6 percent after the news, while preferred shares (TNBPI_p) were up 6.7 percent by 1021 GMT after earlier gaining 26 percent in illiquid trade. TNK-BP Holding's free float is less than 5 percent.
(Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Simon Shuster, editing by Will Waterman)
