The Hindu Business Line : ONGC-Mittal venture may be registered in Cyprus

IS Cyprus becoming the next most favoured nation for registering a company, after Mauritius? To enjoy the tax benefits, several European companies are reported to have registered in Cyprus, and then doing business from Singapore and other countries.

Not to be left behind, Indian companies also seem to be looking at Cyprus. Indications are that the overseas joint venture between the State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Mittal Investments Sarl, one of the investment arms of the L N Mittal Group, ONGC Mittal Energy Ltd (OMEL) is to be registered in Cyprus soon.

When asked why Cyprus was being preferred to register the joint venture company, sources said that the tax impact there was almost zero. In fact, most of the European companies register themselves in Cyprus and then work from Singapore and other places.

According to ONGC sources, legal formalities for setting up the joint venture between the two entities have been worked out, and now the hunt for a CEO is on. Mr Subir Raha, Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC told Business Line "ideally we would like the joint venture to start business by October".

Initially, both ONGC and Mittals will put in equity of $50 million each in the joint venture, he said. Regarding the CEO, he said, "we are looking for suitable candidates".

On the countries where the joint ventures would foray into, sources said Canada-based PetroKazakhstan and Nigeria might be their first targets. The joint venture companies target oil and gas opportunities in Central Asian countries and Africa.

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