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MOSCOW, Jul 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian Economic Development Ministry has retained a full-scale privatization plan for 2016, including the sale of stakes in oil majors Rosneft and Bashneft, shipping company Sovcomflot and bank VTB to raise 1 trillion rubles, Minister Alexei Ulyukayev told reporters on Monday.
“We retain our plans to sell stakes in large companies owned by the federal government, Bashneft, Rosneft, Sovcomflot and VTB,” Ulyukayev said. “In case of a successful privatization of large state assets, the federal budget will receive up to 1 trillion rubles.”
The government has already sold a 10.9% stake in diamond mining giant ALROSA for 65 rubles per share.
The bidding book for the government’s stake in the company opened on July 6 and closed on July 8. Russia will sell about 803 million shares in the framework of the deal.
A source close to participants of the secondary public offering (SPO) of the company told PRIME that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Asian sovereign funds acquired about 50% of the shares on offer.
Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said earlier that the funds raised in the sale of the stake will be for state spending.
Ulyukayev also said the government will not make any decisions on additional sales of shares in ALROSA within 180 days after the price announcement.
Before the SPO, the Federal State Property Management Agency held 43.93% in ALROSA. The government of the republic of Yakutia holds 25% plus one share, 8% is distributed among eight Yakutia’s regions, and 23.07% is in free-float.
ALROSA soared 2.04% to 68.93 rubles per share on the Moscow Exchange at 11:27 a.m., Moscow time.
First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said that the Bashneft and Sovcomflot deals are about to follow ALROSA. The government is in negotiations with potential investors about Rosneft.
“ALROSA was the first deal for us of the so-called Big Privatization,” Shuvalov said.
(64.2488 rubles – U.S. $1)
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