ABU DHABI/VIENNA: Russia’s Gazprom is in talks to buy Abu Dhabi’s 24.9 percent stake in Austrian oil and gas firm OMV, a source familiar with the talks said yesterday.
“Talks were held but they have yet to decide on pricing,” the source said, confirming comments from an Austrian member of parliament, who told Kurier newspaper that he had “concrete indications” that Abu Dhabi fund IPIC and Gazprom had held discussions on the issue.
Austrian state holding company OIAG, which holds 32 percent of OMV in a shareholder pact with International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) and coordinates any shareholding changes, said it had seen no sign that IPIC wanted to exit.
A spokesman for OMV, which signed a controversial pipeline deal with Gazprom this week, said the company could not comment, referring the question to the OIAG and IPIC.
Gazprom and IPIC declined to comment, but a Russian gas industry source dismissed as “rubbish” prospects that a deal would actually come about.
Veteran MP Peter Pilz said he had indications from sources that IPIC and Gazprom had held talks on the issue in Abu Dhabi. Not adverse to publicity, Pilz is a muckraker who has exposed cases of corruption in the past. He was instrumental, for instance, in publicising investigations of Eurofighter purchasing deals, and has been a leading critic of covert US eavesdropping operations in Europe. IPIC owns stakes in a number of European companies, including Spain’s Cepsa. It also owns part of Italian lender UniCredit through its Aabar Investments unit. Reuters
