Rosneft's March 2013 Acquisition of TNK-BP

 

TNK-BP was the third largest oil producer in Russia, and among the ten biggest privately owned oil companies in the world, until this past March when it was acquired by Russian Government owned oil refiner; Rosneft. Rosneft owns 95% of TNK-BP's shares with the other 5% belonging to minority shareholders. According to a Reuters article written by Vladimir Soldatkin; "Russian companies have had a chequered history regarding how they treat minority investors. State-controlled bank VTB last year bought back shares from investors who lost out having seen their stock fall since a 2007 initial public offering, but the offer only applied to small shareholders."

Both TNK-BP and Rosneft's corporate headquarters are base in Moscow, Russia. "Rosneft was established in 1993 as a Unitary enterprise on the basis of assets previously held by Rosneftegaz, the successor to the Soviet Union's Ministry of Oil and Gas,"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosneft).

TNK-BP is known for Siberian oil spills. The company has been criticized for polluting the Ob and Yenisei river basins in Siberia. Rosneft has had joint ventures will ExxonMobil and BP in Artic Shelf Deals as well as a Black Sea Shelf deal with ExxonMobil.

 

Oil spill outside refining plant in Kandalaksha National Park, Russia

bellona.org

 

Due to this Acquisition being over a moth old we do not yet know what will happen to the minority shareholders stock or if the CEO of Rosneft and the Russian government will take advantage of their minority state and those shareholders lose money (which has occurred in the past).

 

 

Illegal Mines Run by Chinese in Ghana

 

10,000 Chinese  immigrants have come to the West African country of Ghana over the past few months. There have been rising tensions between the native population and the Chinese miners. There have been reports of violence between the two ethnic groups, and the mining company's owned by Chinese business men.The Ghanaian environment has been degraded due to the mining practices occurring. In addition to the environmental degradation there are extremely poor working condition to the native workers as well as the Chinese immigrants.

 

olsonfarlow.com

 

The main issue with the existence of this gold mine is that due to Ghana government regulations the mine should not even be in existence. In 2012, Ghana produced 4.2 million ounces of gold, at an average value of $1,668 per ounce. Nearly 23% of all gold mined in Ghana is from small scale mines like the one pictured above. "More than 250 rivers in Ghana's mining communities have been reportedly poisoned by heavy metals and cyanide, raising worries about the quality of drinking water," as reported by The Guardian. The big issue with these Chinese gold mines, is that there are now more illegal mines in operation than legal ones, and this is causing extreme environmental damage along side the human labor impact.

 

Reuters

 

What will the business implications be btween China and Ghana be in the  future?

We will have to wait and see what the Ghanian Government does to either stop this illegal mining or what kind of environmental and labor regulations can be imposed.

 

 

Work Cited

http://www.ibtimes.com/fools-gold-chinese-ghana-resented-running-illegal-mines-destroying-environment-1213883

 

http://www.guardiannews.com/

 



http://www.reuters.com/