Russia’s top oil producer LUKoil said its international division LUKOIL Overseas has completed the sale of a 50 percent stake in Caspian Investment to India’s Mittal Investments for $980 million.
LUKoil and Mittal have created a joint venture on the basis of Caspian Investment, where each company has 50 percent. Under their previous agreement, Mittal Investments also takes over half of Caspian Investment’s debt, which makes another $175 million.
The agreement to sell the 50 percent stake in Caspian Investment Resources (controlled by LUKOIL Oversees) to Mittal Investments was signed back in December 2006. Also in December LUKoil and Mittal announced their joint venture project. LUKoil hoped that Kazakhstan’s antimonopoly agencies would approve the project by the end of the first quarter of 2007.
LUKoil Vagit Alekperov said earlier that Caspian Investment would buy assets not only in Kazakhstan but in other countries as well, starting in 2007.