Energy monster: Gazprom to buy the biggest Russian mining company

In about a month, Russian energy company Gazprom will take over the Russian mining company SUEK, thus creating the biggest energy holding of the country. The only setback that might intervene is a negative decision from Russian anti-monopoly officials, Vedomosti reads. After the merger, Gazprom will get 50% of the company’s shares and a share in the company’s coal extraction facilities.

The remaining shares will be held by Sergey Popov, Andrei Melnyvenko and SUEK managers. One of the biggest energetic coal producer in the world, SUEK holds some 5.8 billion tons of reserves. According to its 2007 report, the company’s production volume reached 90.9 million tons with a total profit of 51.07 billion Russian rubles and net profits of 5.73 billion rubles.

Antimonopoly director Igor Artemiev declared, a year ago, when Gazprom and SUEK started talking about a possible takeover, that this move will enable a ‘quadrupled monopoly’. In time, however, his position changed, as he recently talked about a ‘constructive’ dialogue between the two companies.