As part of the deal, Glencore and Qatar's sovereign fund will equally own the 19.5% stake in Rosneft, which will be controlled by Russia with majority stake.
The Qatar Investment Authority is one of the biggest Glencore’s investors.
However, Glencore said in a statement that "it is in final-stage negotiations regarding a transaction involving the acquisition."
The stake sale in Rosneft is part of the Russian government’s privatization efforts. Though assets sales, the government is seeking to balance its budget, which was affected by lower oil prices and Western sanctions, reported BBC News.
UK oil major BP also owns 19.75% interest in Rosneft, which operates 10 major refineries and several mini-refineries in Russia.
Russia President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was reported by Reuters as saying: "It is the largest privatisation deal, the largest sale and acquisition in the global oil and gas sector in 2016.”
Glencore said it would finance part of the acquisition with €300m in equity while the remaining will be provided by the Qatar Investment Authority and by non-recourse bank financing.
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin was reported by TASS Russian news agency as saying: "We held commercial negotiations with over 30 companies, funds, institutional investors, sovereign funds and financial institutions of Europe, the US, Middle East, and Asia Pacific nations.”
Glencore said it would sign a new five-year offtake agreement with Rosneft for an additional 220,000 barrels a day for the its marketing business.
Image: Rosneft headquarters in Russia. Photo: courtesy of NVO/Wikipedia
