Salans has advised Enel SpA on a major Russian M&A transaction involving the sale of 51% of SeverEnergia LLC by Eni and Enel to Gazprom JSC for a total price of approximately USD 1.6 billion.
SeverEnergia is the sole owner of Articgaz, Urengoil and Neftegaztechnologia, which hold licenses for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in four fields located in Siberia, with proven and probable reserves of gas and oil estimated at a total of 5 billion barrels of oil equivalent. Following the sale, Enel's stake in SeverEnergia decreased from 40% to 19.6% while Eni’s stake dropped from 60% to 29.4%.
SeverEnergia thus becomes the first Italian-Russian company with active operations in the Yamal Nenets region in western Siberia, which is currently the source of about 90% of Russian gas.
The Moscow, London, New York and Paris offices of Salans advised on this transaction. The core project team was led by partner Jane Tarassova (Moscow). Other partners and associates involved were: Paul Salmon (London), John Speers (Paris), Claude Montgomery (New York), Svetlana Barinova (Moscow), Paul Gunther (New York) and Alican Babalioglu (London).
Salans has over 170 lawyers in the CIS with a full-service practice encompassing notable sector strengths including energy and natural resources, financial services, PPP, life sciences, automotive, real estate and IT/IP. Worldwide, Salans has over 750 lawyers based in the major business centres across Western and Central Europe, Eastern Europe including Russia and the CIS, and Asia.