PRESS: Russian Railways, Rosseti, Transneft may replace divs with invest

MOSCOW, Aug 29 (PRIME) -- The government may allow Russian Railways, power grid holding Rosseit and oil pipeline monopoly Transneft to replace dividend payments with investment in infrastructure, business daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

The government is inclined to cancel Russian Railways’ dividends on common shares, but retain only dividends on preferred shares to use the non-distributed profit for investment projects until 2025 instead of government financing, the daily said.

On September 5, the Economic Development Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Transport Ministry, the Energy Ministry and the Federal Antimonopoly Service are to “agree on dividend policy” of the federal infrastructure monopolies, a government source said.

A federal-level official said that the proposal will be considered for all infrastructure companies including Rosseti and Transneft.

No comments are available from the Energy Ministry, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, Russian Railways and Rosseti, the daily said.

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