Russia: Sibir in Trouble as Shares Suspended

Mr Tchigirinsky's interests owe Sibir about $325 million, and not the $115 million that the company had told the London Stock Exchange. Sibir's board and the main Russian shareholders who control about two thirds of the company's share capital have begun an inquiry into how this has happened. A meeting of Sibir shareholders planned for February 27 has been postponed indefinitely.

Last month Sibir dropped plans to buy $360 million of property from Mr Tchigirinsky, intended to prevent him from having to sell his stake in the company, which seeks oil in Siberia and has petrol stations in Moscow.

However, the group had already forwarded the Russian, who has been hit hard by falling stock and property markets, about $115 million in a similar deal in October.
How this figure came to be misreported by the company remained unclear last night. The company could not explain it.

Bennfield, an investment vehicle owned by Mr Tchigirinsky and his fellow oligarch Igor Kesaev, owns 47 per cent of Sibir. Mr Tchigirinsky has been a keen backer of Sibir and has a close working relationship with Henry Cameron, its chief executive.

Sibir owes much of its success to its Russian shareholders, which have protected it from the interference by Moscow that has plagued other foreign companies in Russia and which it sees as a “key intangible asset”.

Sibir's management has previously said it had no choice but to act to protect the share- holders when they fell on hard times and looked likely to have to sell shares.

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