Russian Sintez closer to the acquisition of DEPA

The Russian company Sintez has remained the main candidate interested in buying the Greek public gas company DEPA. The company has offered 1.9 billion euro, which is considered the highest price the Public Property Management Fund has received as reported by To Vima, which cites the Russian edition of Kommersant. Against this amount, the Russian candidate will receive 65% of the ownership of the company.

Sintez is a Russian industrial holding company operating in the field of energy, exploration and extraction of minerals and fuels. It is owned by Russian billionaire Leonid Lebedev, who is present on the real estate as well as on the fuel market. Negusneft is the subsidiary of Sintez in Greece and the company operates in Namibia, Indonesia and Kurdistan in addition to finding the Balkan market attractive.

"We want to operate in countries with a favourable political and financial climate," the head of the company Andrey Korolev told russiaenergy.com and added, "We are present on the Balkan market through the production of energy and we are planning further expansion".

Other candidates for the purchase of DEPA and its subsidiary DESFA, which manages the distribution network, are the Russian public giant Gazprom, the Greek Motor Oil Hellas together with M & M GAS, and the consortium between the Greek holding company GEK TERNA and the PPF financial fund.

Europe seriously objects to Gazprom entering the Greek market. Western Europeans fear that the Mediterranean country may become the Trojan Horse as regards the increase of Russia’s influence and interests in Europe. For years, Gazprom has been a monopolist in the gas market in Europe, which is totally dependent on Russian gas.

The desire for diversification of supplies is strongly expressed by Brussels. So far, the only competitor that can stand in Russia’s way – Kazakhstan, has not yet sufficiently developed the deposits in the Caspian Sea and the public Gazprom is still dominant.

Sintez's lead over Gazprom in the bid for DEPA can be interpreted as a small victory in Europe's fight to limit the influence of the Russian public company in Greece. Gazprom supplies more than 80% of the natural gas in the country and the purchase of the Greek gas company will strengthen Russia's position in the Balkans.

Source: grreporter.info