PRESS: Russian property watchdog against sales to strategic owners

MOSCOW, Mar 10 (PRIME) -- The Russian state property watchdog believes that now is not the time for a large-scale privatization and sales should only be done through transparent market transactions, while a deal with a strategic investor bears serious risks, government officials told newspaper Vedomosti, citing Director of the authority Olga Dergunova, as reported Thursday.

“She (Dergunova) told us that placement on the stock exchange will set a low benchmark the state assets’ price but a sale to a strategic investor can become an even worse option because it will result in property redistribution,” one of the sources said.

According to the sources, Dergunova proposed placing only 4–5% out of the government’s 19.5% interest in oil major Rosneft and only some part of the government’s stakes in other assets.

The government hopes to raise 800 billion rubles from large asset privatization for the state budget in 2016, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said earlier. The list of assets which will become a part of the program is uncertain so far.

A high-ranking government official told Vedomosti that authorities are able to make sure that privatization to a large single investor will be transparent.

(72.3775 rubles – U.S. $1)

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