Billionaire financier Todd Boehly has secured US government and Gulf backing to bid for Lukoil’s international assets, put up for sale after US sanctions. Boehly aims to unseat Carlyle, which agreed to buy the assets in January.

The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, brother of the UAE’s president, are in Boehly’s consortium. Qatar’s billionaire Al-Khayyat family, which has worked with the White House and Trump family, is also included. The DFC is expected to take a mid-teens equity stake.

The deal has not been finalized. Lukoil’s overseas assets, valued at $20bn, include oil and gas fields, thousands of petrol stations, and European refining. The sale offers over 3bn barrels of reserves and refineries in Bulgaria and Romania.

Sheikh Tahnoon’s International Holding Company is expected to lead with Allied Investment Partners. Boehly and the DFC would control a majority of the board. The Al-Khayyat family would take a smaller stake. The proposal raises concerns about Carlyle’s disadvantage against a consortium involving the US government.