Yukos, says James Fenkner at Troika Dialog, a Moscow investment bank, has a history of buying cheap.

ECONOMIST: Russian energy

"Currently Esmark is an underperforming company and Severstal has a mixed track record for turning companies around, " Troika Dialog analyst Sergey Donskoy told Forbes.com.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Troika Dialog, a leading dealer in equities and government debt, said last week it would sell 20% of its shares to the Bank of Moscow, a commercial bank controlled by the Moscow city government.

ECONOMIST: Russian finance

And when it came to using tax havens, which the government began to abolish only last year, Yukos was not even the most effective (that distinction, according to Troika Dialog, an investment bank, went to Sibneft).

ECONOMIST: Does Russia's Yukos face bankruptcy or break-up?