Court bans Yukos shareholders meeting
A Moscow court has barred the embattled Russian oil giant Yukos from holding an emergency shareholders meeting next week.
The Millhouse Capital group, headed by Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich, received notice from the Moscow Arbitration Court banning the Yukos meeting from taking place on Monday.
The meeting was to be held a day after Yukos’ largest production unit is due to be auctioned by the government to pay off billions of dollars in back tax claims.
Millhouse Capital, which is controlled by billionaire Abramovich, holds about 9% of Yukos’ shares.
The order comes as Russia’s largest oil producer tries to stave off the sale of its Yuganskneftegaz subsidiary, which pumps nearly 60% of the company’s oil. The Russian government has scheduled Yuganskneftegaz to be auctioned to pay some of Yukos’s multi-billion pound tax bill.
Many observers say the sale is likely to be sold to natural gas giant Gazprom at a fraction over the €6.6bn starting price. Yukos contends that the unit is worth twice that.
