CEO: Bahrain’s fund interested in buying big stake in ALROSA

RIYADH, Oct 26 (PRIME) -- Bahrain’s sovereign fund is interested in acquiring a large stake in Russian uncut diamond giant ALROSA in case of privatization, CEO Sergei Ivanov told PRIME on Friday.

“Bahrain has a serious sovereign fund, around U.S. $15 billion of assets under management. Bahrain is interested in acquiring large stakes in Russian companies, they are not interested in collecting 1–2% from the market. There is no such a possibility on the market yet, but the fund said it likes what’s going on at ALROSA, it likes the management, the potential of further growth of the company’s capitalization, they would be interested, as they say, in owning quite a big stake in ALROSA,” he said.

“If a decision on privatization of ALROSA is made someday, I think that Bahrain’s fund will be one of the bidders,” he added.

In July 2016, the government sold 10.9% in ALROSA for 52.2 billion rubles having reduced its stake to 33%. Yakutia owns 25% plus one share, 8% belongs to eight districts of the republic, and free float accounts for 34%.

The government’s privatization plan for 2017–2019 encompasses cutting the state stake in ALROSA to 29% plus one share.

(65.7476 rubles – U.S. $1)

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