MOSCOW, May 16 (RIA Novosti) - Gazprom denied Wednesday any link to a previously unknown company that bought bankrupt oil firm Yukos's offices in central Moscow at an auction last Friday, a spokesman for the state-controlled energy giant said.
Media reports suggested that Prana, which had acquired a 22-story office building for about $4 billion, nearly five times more than the starting price, outstripping state-backed oil giant Rosneft [RTS: ROSN], was owned by Gazprom [RTS: GAZP].
"Prana, which bought Yukos's central office at an auction, is not affiliated with Gazprom group, and did not act in our interests," Sergei Kupriyanov said. "Gazprom is a public company and its acquisitions are made in a transparent way and in compliance with law."
Prana signed a formal agreement to acquire the former Yukos building with the company's bankruptcy administrators on Wednesday, an administration spokesman said.
"Now the company has to transfer payment in full to Yukos's account within 14 days from Wednesday," Nikolai Lashkevich said, adding that a final agreement should be signed within three days following the payment to finalize the purchase.
It is not clear whether Prana has complied with the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service's demand Monday that it disclose its ownership structure. The service otherwise threatened to cancel the deal.
Yukos, which once led Russia's oil market, was declared bankrupt on August 1, 2006, after three years of litigation with tax authorities over the company's tax arrears.
