Lates News

US billionaire and former Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly has secured backing from the US government and a Gulf billionaire with ties to the Trump family to bid for Lukoil's international assets. The Russian oil company's assets were put up for sale after it was sanctioned by the US last year. Its overseas assets were valued at $20 billion when they were written down in March, spanning oil and gas fields from Central Asia to Mexico, thousands of petrol stations and a vast European refining portfolio. People familiar with the matter said Boehly has been preparing for months, aiming to replace US private equity giant Carlyle, which had already agreed to acquire the assets. Boehly's consortium includes the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Sheikh Tahnoon, brother of the UAE president, with Qatar's Al-Hayat family also involved. The DFC is expected to hold around a 15 per cent stake in the new company. Boehly has yet to finalise a deal with Lukoil; the proposal is fairly advanced, but the extent of the talks among the parties is unclear.