Infrastructure.
From the Wall Street Journal, May 9:
Elliott Eyes Bet on Pipeline Carrying Russian Gas
The deal involves a package of infrastructure in Bulgaria, including Russia’s last operational natural-gas link to Europe
Elliott Investment Management is in talks to buy a stake in a package of infrastructure assets, including a pipeline that carries Russian natural gas to Europe—a deal that could form a template for reviving Moscow’s once-mighty energy business by involving American investors.
The U.S. hedge fund, headed by billionaire founder Paul Singer, is considering a stake in the Bulgarian extension of the TurkStream pipeline, along with access to a network of data centers, data cables and other infrastructure assets, according to people familiar with the matter.
Elliott recently signed a nondisclosure agreement with Bulgaria’s state-owned gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz, the people said. The move follows a meeting in Sofia last month between Elliott representatives and senior Bulgarian government officials. Other than investing in the company’s infrastructure network, Elliott is also considering a deal to refinance the company’s debt.
The talks are in their initial phase, with no guarantee of a deal being finalized, the people said. The potential size of the investment wasn’t clear.
The TurkStream pipeline is Russia’s last operational gas conduit to Europe after its larger links were severed or shut down following its invasion of Ukraine. TurkStream traverses the Black Sea to Turkey before feeding pipelines supplying Hungary, Slovakia, and other nations.
Russia was until 2022 Europe’s biggest oil-and-gas supplier. In recent months, the Trump administration has put economic dealmaking at the heart of its overtures toward Moscow over peace in Ukraine, raising the possibility that Russia could reknit its energy network into the West, with American support.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March that if the U.S. and Russia reach an agreement on energy, Europe will get cheap Russian gas. Nord Stream—a pipeline system linking Russia and Germany that was sabotaged in 2022—is of particular interest to Moscow. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this year that Washington and Moscow were discussing reviving it.
A U.S. fund investing in a pipeline carrying Russian gas could help entrench Moscow’s fuel supply even as European leaders try to wean themselves off the vestiges of its Russian energy supply.
“The deal could be a possible blueprint for similar deals in Ukraine and in Germany,” said Martin Vladimirov, energy expert at the Sofia-based Center for the Study of Democracy who has studied Russia’s influence in Europe. “It could help perpetuate Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.”
Moscow supplies around 19% of Europe’s gas imports via the TurkStream pipeline and liquefied-natural gas shipments, down from around 45% before the 2022 invasion....
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