Russian press reports that at least four valid bids have been filed for Udmurtneft by the deadline last Friday. While the Russian competition authority originally gave its approval for nine companies to file bids for Udmurtneft, now only four companies are sure to make bids: Russian Sibneft, Chinese Sinopec, US-Russian gas producer Itera in consortium with Indian ONGC, and MOL.
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OMV reportedly stepped back, saying that the valuation of the field is excessive and that such an investment cannot match its earnings growth targets. The press also reports unnamed officials as saying that most of the bids arrived at $ 2.5bn.
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Based on OMV’s comments, the market might become more nervous over the posibility of MOL overpaying for Udmurtneft. After last week’s news that the company will pay out a huge $ 600m+ dividend before the disposal, the lower valuation ($ 2.5bn versus original reports of $ 3.0bn–3.2bn) does not come as a big surprise for us.
We keep our Buy recommendation on MOL, with a price target of HUF 29,033.
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