PRESS: FGC UES to sell only 10% of Inter RAO

MOSCOW, Jun 18 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) owning 18.57% of power holding Inter RAO plans to sell 10% of its holding, Kommersant business daily reported on Monday citing sources.

Inter RAO Capital may acquire 6.33% of the stake, while investment company Region may buy the rest 3.67%.

Simultaneously, hydropower giant RusHydro plans to sell off its 4.92% to Inter RAO Capital that will boost its shareholding to 29.8% after the transactions. The stake will be below 30% so will not require a mandatory buyout offer to minority shareholders according to the current legislation.

One of the sources said that the deal with RusHydro is awaiting approval and is expected to be closed until the end of June. A directive on the deal with FGC UES was signed on June 13, the deal is to be closed “a bit later.”

The sources also said that FGC UES has decided to keep part of its stake as sees Inter RAO shares as undervalued and hopes to get dividends. The company will use raised funds for its investment program and plans no special dividends to Rosseti.

A representative of FGC UES confirmed that a deal is negotiated with the government.

RusHydro and Inter RAO have declined to comment. Region has not answered yet.

Inter RAO Capital plans to spend 22.1 billion rubles on purchasing FGC UES’s stake and 17.17 billion rubles on RusHydro’s stake. Region is to pay 12.8 billion rubles, according to the sources.

The price may come to around 3.34 rubles per share, which is the weighted average price of the past six months. A discount to the current market price is explained by a large size of the stakes. The money will be paid by instalment.

Inter RAO will also obtain guarantees that the shares will not be sold to “unfriendly” investors.

(62.6851 rubles – U.S. $1)

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