Rosneft reportedly in talks to acquire Bashneft for $5bln

Russian oil giant Rosneft could be offered the controlling stake in the medium-sized oil producer Bashneft for some 325 billion rubles ($5 billion), writes Sputnik International, even though president Vladimir Putin told Bloomberg that “this is probably not the best option”.
First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said last Friday that the Russian government was considering options for selling its controlling interest of 50.08 percent in Bashneft and 19.5 percent of shares in the country’s largest oil company Rosneft.
The other option is Lukoil, the only other company in Russia that could afford the price, but it deemed it to be too high, the outlet said.