E.On, the world's largest utility by sales, may soon sell its 3.5 percent stake in Russian energy giant Gazprom worth $4 billion, Vedomosti reported Monday.
Germany's E.On does not plan to sell the stake on the open market because of share price concerns, so a state-controlled Russian firm would be the most likely buyer, Vedomosti cited unidentified financial market sources as saying.
E.On was not available to comment.
E.On has discussed different options of divesting from Gazprom and proposed to sell the shares to Gazprom directly, a source at Gazprombank, a banking unit of the gas export monopoly said.
These discussions have been ongoing for two years, Vedomosti's source said, adding that he had not heard of any decision.
A source at Gazprom said he was also aware of E.On's plans but did not know of any decision, the newspaper reported.
E.On, one of Europe's biggest gas buyers, imports most of its gas from Russia and Norway and is the largest foreign shareholder in Gazprom.
The company first bought into Gazprom, one of its main gas suppliers, in 1998, purchasing 2.5 percent of shares from the Russian government for $660 million.
VTB Capital, in an analyst report Monday, said it would not "rule out Gazprom itself acquiring the stake," since just last year Gazprom took back 2.9 percent of its ordinary shares from E.On in a large asset-swap deal.
Last year, E.On acquired a 25 percent share in Russia's giant Yuzhno Russkoye gas field in Siberia, and in return handed over to Gazprom its 49 percent stake in Gerogaz, which holds almost 3 percent of Gazprom's shares.
The Gerogaz share packet was worth about $4 billion at the time.
Over the past two years, E.On has been looking to raise 10 billion euros ($12.3 billion) in asset sales in a marked effort to pay down its debt, which stood at 45 billion euros at the end of 2009.
In April, the Germany utility fulfilled this target after it sold its American electric company for 5 billion euros.
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