Courtesy of tass.ru

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) will consider the deal on purchase of 46% of Eurasia Drilling Company (EDC) shares by the US Schlumberger at the next meeting of the foreign investment commission, head of the watchdog, Igor Artemyev, said on Tuesday.

"The commission has not been appointed yet. But we have a common practice of automatically transferring the skipped issues to the next meeting agenda," he said when answering the question whether the deal will be considered.

As TASS reported earlier on January 20 it was announced that Schlumberger, the world’s largest oil services company, is acquiring Eurasia Drilling.

The deadline for completion of the deal was extended until September 30. EDC continues negotiating the transaction with the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Government Commission on Foreign Investments.

The deal on Eurasia Drilling takeover by Schlumberger will amount to $1.7 bln. Schlumberger will purchase 45.65% of shares in the Russian company. Eurasia Drilling will undergo de-listing on the London Stock Exchange and buy out its shares from minority stockholders. Schlumberger will extend a loan for the shares redemption to the majority shareholders of the Russian company.

Currently, the largest co-owners of Eurasia Drilling are Alexander Dzhaparidze with a 30.2% stake (he is also the general director) and Alexander Putilov with 22.4%.

Source: tass.ru