LUKoil, Gazprom top list of Russian companies with foreign assets

According to the ranking, researched by Columbia University and Moscow's Skolkovo Management School, independent oil major LUKoil, state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, steel maker Severstal, and aluminum producer RusAl cumulatively own 78% of all Russian companies' foreign assets.

LUKoil came first in the list with $18.9 billion of foreign assets, followed by Gazprom with $10.6 billion, Severstal with $4.6 billion, and RusAl with $4.2 billion.

The 25 companies own a total of $59 billion in foreign assets, and have annual overseas sales of $200 billion and foreign personnel numbering 130,000. These figures have roughly tripled in the past three years, suggesting the companies' dynamic activity on foreign markets, the survey said.

Almost 80% of Russian assets abroad belong to raw material companies, of which more than half are held by oil and gas companies, the survey said.

Geographically, Western Europe accounts for 52% of Russian-owned foreign assets, followed by CIS countries (22%), Eastern Europe (11%), North America (6%), Africa (4%) and Asia and Australia (3%), the survey said.  (Tehran Times)