Rosneft: sell off plan announced, but don’t hold your breath
A big announcement from Russia’s economy ministry today: Russia may privatise an additional 19 per cent of state-owned Rosneft this year, in addition to the 5.7 per cent stake it sold to BP in March as part of the TNK-BP deal.
The key word in this, of course, is ‘may’. The Russian government has changed course on privatisation more than a few times already, and it is likely to encounter a fair amount of opposition on this particular move. Continue reading »
Russian Post to Kremlin: send investment
By Ben Aris of bne
Thanks to non-stop rising incomes, Russians are becoming increasingly more generous. Which means more presents – and more mail. And the Russian postal service has warned that, without investment, it may not be able to cope next year.
Russian Post was expecting twice the volume over the holiday period from a year earlier – and had to cope with 3m registered letters and delivered several million more unregistered letters. Alexander Kiselev, chief executive, says: “This year’s New Year’s Eve may be the last without failure and collapse.” Continue reading »
Showdown looms over Novorossyisk stake sale
A new year, a new group of Russian companies that are slated for privatisation.
One of the first up looks to be Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port, the country’s biggest port operator. Yet so far things haven’t exactly gone as advertised. And the plot is only getting murkier. Continue reading »
Russia privatisation: one step forward
Another week, another iteration to Russia’s constantly-evolving privatisation programme.
At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Russia’s economy minister announced that the government would now aim to raise Rb260bn ($8bn) to Rb270bn next year with the sale of up to 5 per cent of Russian Railways, 25.5 per cent of lender VTB and 7 per cent of diamond miner Alrosa. Continue reading »
Sechin woos Putin on Rosneft deal
So Rosneft is showing that it is serious about buying a stake in TNK-BP, the Anglo-Russian joint venture, by seeking to raise $15bn in financing.
But, as Igor Sechin, Rosneft chief executive, knows well, money alone won’t secure the deal. The final decision will rest not with Rosneft, BP, or BP’s Russian oligarch partners in TNK-BP, but with president Vladimir Putin. And while Putin is fully aware of the importance of money, much more is at stake in this deal – not least the balance of power in his administration between economic hawks and liberals. Continue reading »
Russian privatisation: Dvorkovich 1, Sechin 0
Moscow’s warring government factions went head-to-head on Tuesday on the future of Russian privatisation, with the young US educated Arkady Dvorkovich (left) facing off against Igor Sechin (right), a key Putin ally and former member of the special services.
So which side won? It depends on whom you ask. Continue reading »
Russia privatisation: the plot thickens
For the past month, there has been one big question on Russian investors’ mind: what is the plan for Russian privatisation and more importantly for Rosneftegaz, the state oil and gas vehicle?
This week the plot thickens with the fate of hydroelectric giant Rushydro soon to be decided. Continue reading »
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