Transport ministry sees no good investor for NCSP privatization

VOLGOGRAD, Aug 8 (PRIME) – A sectorial investor should partake in privatization of Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP), but there is no such investor at the moment, Deputy Transport Minister Viktor Olersky told reporters on Tuesday.

“The major task here is to find a sectorial investor because…there should be stability here. I mean if Transneft decides to leave the company (NCSP) and sell its stake, I think it would be right to sell the stake into the same hands of a sectorial investor,” he said.

“There is no apparent investor right now…If an investor appears…not just a sectorial company, but an investor…and they, I mean Summa Group, fail to agree, it will affect results of the company. They will divide into camps, as always. Nothing new here.”

Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said in April that the government plans to privatize 20% in NCSP through the bourse to raise about 30 billion rubles in 2017. But in May, Moiseyev said that privatization of NCSP is not planned in 2017. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said earlier the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and foreign partners are ready to buy the stake in NCSP.

Oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and multi-industry holding Summa Group own 50.1% in NCSP on a parity basis, and Transneft directly controls another 10.5% in the company. The Federal State Property Management Agency owns 20% that are to be privatized, and Russian Railways owns 5.3%, the rest is free float. Transneft also wants to sell its 35.5% in NCSP.

(60.0605 rubles – U.S. $1)

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