The Russian government will resume preparations for a sale of its stake in oil company Bashneft and has launched the sale of 19.5% in oil major Rosneft, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said.
“After an additional study of the privatization issue of Bashneft and Rosneft, the government decided to restart preparations for the sale of a state stake in Bashneft. We are also immediately starting preparations for the sale of 19.5% in Rosneft”, he said.
The government plans to sell the whole 50.08% stake in Bashneft, and expects to receive more than 1 trillion rubles from selling stakes in the two companies, he added.
A draft on the launch of the sale procedure for Bashneft was submitted to the government on September 30.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) together with its partners is still interested in taking part in Bashneft privatization, but Rosneft’s rights to participate in the deal should not be limited. Shuvalov said that mostly foreign investors were interested in the stake in Rosneft, while mostly local investors were interested in Bashneft.
Rustem Khamitov, head of the republic of Bashkortostan, which owns 25% in Bashneft, said that the republic did not object to privatization of the government’s stake in the company, and had already held consultations with possible investors Rosneft and Lukoil. The republic will keep its stake in the company, he reiterated.
Alexei Kudrin, a former finance minister and the current head of the Center for Strategic Research, said that the purchase of Bashneft by Rosneft would mean quasi-privatization without an impact on the budget, but Rosneft should not be allowed to receive preferences if it bought the stake. This sale, if done, will not be efficient for the government, he said. (Prime/Business World Magazine)
