| At a glance: Deal size: $13.1 billion Bookrunners and arrangers: Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (coordinating mandated lead arranger, joint bookrunner), ABN Amro (joint bookrunner) Date: September 2005 |
Euromoney does not like to select award winners simply because they have undertaken particularly big deals. However, the $13.1 billion package put together to finance Gazprom’s acquisition of its oil-producing compatriot Sibneft was certainly eye-catching.
Coordinating mandated lead arranger Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and joint bookrunner ABN Amro devised the three-tranche deal to support Russian gas company Gazprom’s successful foray into the world of oil in late September.
The purchase of a 72.66% stake in Sibneft, Russia’s largest ever M&A deal, has finally put Gazprom on the road to becoming the integrated European oil and gas group that is its goal, after earlier government plans to merge it with newly acquired Rosneft fell through.
It was also the most visible sign last year of president Vladimir Putin’s avowed determination to exercise increased state control over the country’s strategic industries.
The deal was equivalent to the entire volume of syndicated lending to Russian corporates in the whole of 2004, and involved the largest ever non-OECD loan package.