PRESS: Owners fail to sell Russia’s Transaero to Aeroflot on time

MOSCOW, Sep 29 (PRIME) -- The shareholders of Russian airline Transaero have failed to consolidate a 75% plus one share stake in the airline for a sale to Aeroflot by the deadline of an offer of a bailout, business daily Kommersant reported Tuesday, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

The main reason for the failure is that an about 25% stake is pledged with VTB which would accept “a 15–20 year air carrier’s debt restructuring, but not the sale (of 75% in the company) for one ruble,” which the Aeroflot bailout deal envisages, a source said.

Minority shareholders do not want to sell their stakes before they know the principles of the company’s debt restructuring and bailout, Kommersant reported. Vitaly Vantsev, the owner of a 4.5% stake, said that the deadline for stake consolidation can be postponed to October 1 or December 1.

(65.5470 rubles – U.S. $1)

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