OREANDA-NEWS. Alexei Miller, Chairman of the Board of Gazprom, and Vladimir Rashevsky, General Director of Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) have signed the Protocol of Intent.

According to the press service of SUEK, pursuant to the document, the parties are to establish a joint company on the basis of their electricity and coal assets. The detailed list of assets of the joint company and the procedure of compensation of their possible value differences will be determined in the course of deal preparation.

The deal is planned to be agreed upon and closed in the first half of 2007. The interests of the parties will be as follows: Gazprom - 50% plus 1 share, SUEK - 50% minus one share.

The partners will develop the detailed strategy of the new company with the aim to become one of the leaders of Russian electricity generation and gain leadership in global power and coal-mining industries. The focus of the joint company will be on constant growth of economic efficiency and well-balanced use of coal and gas in electricity generation, and promotion of savings of gas supply for electricity generation.