RusEnergy

MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - Bankrupt Russian oil company Yukos [RTS: YUKO] and an investor offering to take on its debt have taken a "time-out" to consider the potential deal, the company's board chairman said Monday. Viktor Gerashchenko said in July an unnamed investor offered Yukos a lifeline by repaying its debts, which stand in excess of $18 billion. The following month, a court declared Yukos bankrupt, upholding a vote by the company's creditors and led by the tax authorities and the state-controlled oil company Rosneft. The Russian economics magazine Profile quoted the board chairman as saying the investor offered to take on Yukos' debt in exchange for a controlling stake in the company. Gerashchenko told the magazine that after the offer was made, "the sides took a 'time-out,' following which internal discussions were held on whether or not to buy Yukos. Nothing is ruled out, in my opinion." When asked whether he supported the idea of selling all of Yukos' shares to Rosneft, Gerashchenko said: "Yes. But I am less concerned about the buyer than I am about minority shareholders losing money during the company's liquidation. This totals around $9 billion, invested by three large American hedge funds. And this could create an unpleasant legal problem in Russia, because they could go to court." The Moscow Arbitration Court's August 1 bankruptcy ruling on Yukos, formerly Russia's largest oil producer, came after three years of litigation with tax authorities over the company's tax arrears. Yukos, whose founder Mikhail Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year prison term in Siberia after being convicted of fraud in May 2005, faces a total of $16.6 billion in claims from creditors, including its former core production unit, Yuganskneftegaz ($4.07 billion), now owned by Rosneft; the Federal Tax Service ($11.6 billion); Rosneft itself ($482 million); and more than 20 other companies.