Moscow Times
August 21, 2007
Lynch Says He Will Sell Yukos Assets
U.S. businessman Stephen Lynch said Monday that he planned to sell the international Yukos assets he bought at a bankruptcy auction last week.
"I'm confident this asset will find a home," Lynch said.
Lynch said his firm, Monte Valle, had been reducing its presence in industrial real estate to focus on other investments. Monte Valle and a group of investors bought Yukos Finance, Yukos' disputed international unit, for $305 million Wednesday.
Lynch said VR Capital, a U.S. hedge fund run by Richard Deitz, was one of the investors helping fund the purchase. He declined to name any others, but said they were all "non-Russian, foreign capital."
Lynch said he bought registered bidder Promneftstroi on the eve of the sale to participate in the auction for Yukos International. Promneftstroi previously belonged to Rosneft.
Yukos Finance owns a 49 percent stake in the Slovak pipeline monopoly, Transpetrol.
Embattled oil firm Russneft was interested in buying part of Transpetrol, but dropped all talks after a request from Gazprom Neft, Russneft's former head, Mikhail Gutseriyev, has said.