Russia To Offer Rosneft To a Foreign Investor

The evaluation of state oil firm Rosneft will be finished by October before a planned company?s IPO in London, German Gref, Russia?s economy minister, said.
The government plans to sell up to 49 percent of Rosneft to raise money to pay back the $7.15 billion it borrowed to buy back shares in gas monopoly Gazprom.

?We are currently considering placing some large blocks of shares on the London stock market,? Gref said.

The government has said it plans an initial public offering scheduled for next year, before which a strategic investor may take a stake in Rosneft.