Russian government to sell shares in major companies

The Russian government could sell some of its shares in a number of large companies, including the oil giant Rosneft, Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov said on Thursday. The government controls over 75 percent of Rosneft via the fully State-owned Rosneftegaz company. According to Belousov, the government intended to sell up to 6 percent of its shares in the company. That would top up the federal budget by up to 140 billion rubles (4.5 billion U.S. dollars), Belousov said. Beside a package in Rosneft, the State eyed selling of the shares in several other large companies in 2013, Belousov told reporters. He mentioned diamond company Alrosa, commercial fleet operator Sovcomflot, VTB bank, Sibir airline among them. This week, Rosneft signed a deal with the British Petroleum (BP) and AAR companies on acquisition of the TNK-BP oil company, which has made Rosneft the largest publicly traded oil company in Russia. Overall, the Russian government planned to receive up to 270 billion rubles (8.7 billion dollars) from the sell-out of its shares in eight companies next year, the minister said. Belousov also said the government further considered a sale of its shares worth 500 billion rubles (over 16 billion dollars) in even more companies, including Russian Railways (RZD), flagship Aeroflot airline, Sheremetyevo airport and others.