MOSCOW: The head of Russia's largest oil firm Rosneft will travel to London on Friday to meet BP investors whose support he will need to buyout the British group's crisis-hit Siberian joint venture.
A Rosneft source told the Interfax news agency yesterday that the talks were being organized by bankers at Citi but provided no further details.
The news follows confirmation from the four Soviet-born tycoons who co-own the TNK-BP venture with their British partners that they were seeking to raise at least $ 20 billion to acquire the BP stake.
The billionaires said they had hired the Swiss-based Rothschild Group to help them raise the capital for a stake that analysts value at $ 25 billion.
State-controlled Rosneft is viewed as the overwhelming favorite in the first redistribution of the world's largest oil producer since the company's own takeover of the main assets of former private giant Yukos eight years ago.
BP has expressed a keen interest in staying in Russia after it leaves TNK-BP and Rosneft is negotiating a share swap that could lead to joint exploration in the Arctic and other coveted offshore fields.
