Rosneft share offer goes to court

Oil firm Yukos goes to court on Monday to try and stop the flotation of Russian state energy firm Rosneft on the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
The sale will make history as Russia's biggest initial public offering (IPO) and the fifth-biggest in the world.
Rosneft has said the latest legal move will not affect its flotation plan, and said Britain's BP, China's CNPC and Malaysia's Petronas are share buyers.
The decision to enter the London market has been surrounded by controversy.
Yukos claims Yuganskneftgaz, Rosneft's main oil producing subsidiary, was seized from Yukos by the Russian state.
Injunction sought
Rosneft bought Yugansk in 2004 after it was taken from Yukos and auctioned off to settle a disputed unpaid tax bill.
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Q&A: Rosneft share offer
Mr Justice Charles, who usually sits in the Family Division, is being asked to examine whether the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the LSE acted lawfully in allowing the shares to be listed.
He has set aside a day-and-a-half to investigate complex legal issues over whether the FSA and LSE decisions are open to legal challenge.
Yukos has asked the court to impose a temporary injunction on the share sale, pending a full judicial review of the flotation decisions.
Yukos has already failed to convince the FSA to stop the float.
Two refineries
Shares in Rosneft have been earmarked to make their market debut at $7.55.
The group expects to raise $10.4bn (£5.65bn) through the flotation, which values the firm at $79.8bn.
State-owned Rosneft carries out oil and gas exploration and production activities in Siberia and southern Russia, as well as operating two refineries.
Rosneft chief executive Sergei Bogdanchikov said on Sunday that Britain's BP, Malaysia's Petronas and China's CNPC were the three main buyers of shares issued in the IPO.
He told a news briefing on the fringes of the G8 summit in St Petersburg that BP had bought $1bn of Rosneft stock, Petronas $1.1bn and CNPC $500m.
Oil price surge
Analysts believe President Vladimir Putin is keen to offer shares in the firm to the open market, in order to allay concerns that Russia is tightening its grip on oil supplies, amid fears over global energy supplies.
In recent months, oil prices have surged to new records, making the offering even more attractive to potential investors.
Most of the cash will go towards paying off a $7.5bn debt that Rosneft built up in order to help the Kremlin increase its stake in gas provider Gazprom.
However, Yukos and its supporters claim the firm has been being punished for the pro-Western political ambition of its founder and former boss, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
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