FT spoke about the “unusual position” of the United States in the transaction on the assets of LUKOIL

U.S. billionaire Todd Boeli has secured the support of the U.S. government and influential investors from the Gulf countries to buy LUKOIL’s foreign assets, the Financial Times writes, citing sources familiar with the proposal.

The Boeli consortium’s proposal would put the U.S. government in an “unusual position”: its state-owned International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) would bid for LUKOIL’s overseas assets, with another part of the administration to decide their fate.

According to the interlocutors of the FT, it can get a share of about 15% in the new company.

The application was also joined by the brother of the UAE President Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the Qatari family of billionaires Al Hayat. Its representatives have collaborated with the White House and members of the Trump family on real estate and energy projects.

The consortium should be headed by Sheikh Tahnun-controlled International Holding Company and the Emirates Allied Investment Partners. Boeli and DFC are expected to win a majority of the new company's board seats.

The final approval for the sale must be granted by the Trump administration. One of the interlocutors of the newspaper admitted that the participation of the US state agency could put competing investment fund Carlyle in a less favorable position.

The consortium’s proposal is at an advanced stage, but there is no final agreement with LUKOIL yet. Other claimants for the entire portfolio or individual assets withdrew from the process, one source said.

The value of the foreign business sold by the FT is estimated at about $20 billion. It includes deposits in Central Asia, Mexico and other regions, more than 3 billion barrels of proven and probable reserves, thousands of petrol stations and major refineries in Bulgaria and Romania.