Ministry sees possible delay in ALROSA’s purchase of Kristall

MOSCOW, Jan 18 (PRIME) – The acquisition of Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA of diamond polisher Kristall may be closed later than the expected deadline of late March as appraisal was finished only at the end of 2018, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev told reporters on Friday.

“We still expect it to be closed in the first quarter. Unfortunately, we’ve received the appraisal report only recently, and we have some questions. So, (the deadline for the deal) may be delayed,” he said, adding that nothing bad would happen from waiting even three more months to close the deal.

He also refused to disclose Kristall’s value. “The Federal State Property Management Agency received the appraisal report…only at the very end of December. The agency is now preparing documents basing on this appraisal, and it will send the appraisal to us as well. We will look at it after that,” he said.

In April 2018, ALROSA’s supervisory board approved the acquisition of 100% in state-owned diamond polisher Kristall. The money from acquisition will be transferred to the federal budget.

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