Australian Financial Review: The Aussie funds backing Gazprom
It’s the stock that so many global “value” fund managers hate to love. The world’s largest gas company that has become a foreign policy tool for Vladimir Putin is in the bargain bin of some Aussie fund managers and in the too hard basket for others.
By any valuation metric, the shares of Russian energy giant Gazprom which are listed on the Moscow Stock Exchange and in London via authorised depository receipts, are a steal. Among its owners are the Future Fund, Lazard, and top performing Perth fund Packer & Co, all long term holders.
But steal is the operative word for investors that claim Gazprom, which is half owned by the Russian government, could leave investors empty handed. With sanctions targeting Russian companies imposed by the US and the West, the faith of investors in this energy giant which controls 17 per cent of the world’s oil reserves is being tested.