The acquisition of India's Essar Oil led by Russian oil major Rosneft can be “considered done”, the state-controlled company’s CEO Igor Sechin said at the annual shareholder meeting on June 22, media reports said.

The almost $13bn acquisition of 98% in the oil refinery, Rosneft’s largest foreign deal to date, was delayed for months due to unresolved debts of Essar to a number on Indian banks.

“Please be informed that the legal decision was received yesterday, which guarantees the entry of the company in Essar Oil’s capital,” Sechin told shareholders at the meeting in Sochi, according to the Financial Times.

Should the structure of the deal remain as previously announced, 98% in Essar will now be sold to a consortium headed by Rosneft, with the company acquiring 49% and Trafigura oil trader and UCP buying another 49%, in a deal worth a total $12.9bn including Essar’s debt.

Essar Oil owns about $5.5bn to 30 Indian creditors and most of those have approved the change of ownership, including the country’s largest bank, the State Bank of India. An unnamed source close to Essar told the FT that Indian banks that objected the deal had now dropped their opposition.

Sechin said the deal that will give Rosneft 49% stake in the company, control of a deepwater port on India's coast and a network of 2,700 gas stations, will increase Rosneft’s refining output by 20%.

However, in March 2016, Moody’s Investors Service warned that a potential $2bn-$3bn acquisition of a non-controlling 49% stake in Essar Oil refinery operator is credit negative for Rosneft, as it has the potential to increase the company’s leverage, while the benefits of the acquisition remain unclear.

“Additional capital expenditure related to this refinery where Rosneft doesn’t have control, could stretch the company’s free cash flows while the payback from such investment is not clear,” Moody’s argued.

Although the Indian economy relies heavily on the fragmented refining sector, Essar’s key Vadinar refinery is responsible for only about 8-10% of oil refined in India, the ratings agency noted.

Additionally, Moody’s did not expect Rosneft to export oil from Russia to the refinery, despite it reporting good refining margins of about $8 per barrel and being the third largest oil refinery in India, thus “making the synergies from this perspective seem doubtful”.

Meanwhile, Russia’s state-controlled VTB Bank, which reportedly bridge-financed last year’s still murky 19.5% privatisation of Rosneft, is also participating in the Essar Oil acquisition.

Emerging as Rosneft’s go-to bank in major deals, VTB granted Essar $3.9bn for debt restructuring, and might also partially finance the Trafigura and UCP part of the deal, Reuters wrote in February.