The government may sell 25 percent minus one share of Rosneft, 35.5 percent minus one share of VTB Group and 7.58 percent minus one share of Sberbank under a plan for 2011-2013 that was approved today, Economy Minister Elvira Nabiullina told reporters in Moscow.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s government is auctioning off assets to help cover a budget shortfall it expects to reach 5.3 percent of gross domestic product this year and 3.6 percent in 2011. Banks will advise on the proper timing and terms of the sales, Nabiullina said, adding that companies will reap 800 billion rubles, while the remaining 1 trillion rubles will go into the federal budget.
Russia plans to auction off state stakes in eight companies next year each valued at 500 million rubles or more, including sales of stakes in OAO Apatit, OAO PhosAgro’s flagship phosphate-mining division, S7 airline and Vostochny port, Nabiullina said. The government seeks to earn 1 trillion rubles in the next three years.
The country’s last major asset sale was in 2007, when VTB raised $8 billion in the biggest initial public offering that year. Oil producer OAO Rosneft’s IPO a year earlier raised $10.6 billion.
The government owns 75.16 percent of Rosneft, the country’s biggest oil producer, 60.3 percent of Sberbank and 85.5 percent of VTB, the two biggest lenders, according to company websites and data compiled by Bloomberg.
Last month Russia selected 10 banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse AG, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG, Renaissance Capital and VTB Capital as advisers for its planned sales.
