RusHydro to undergo quasi-privatization, announcing further plans in H1 2017 - Olkhovich
MOSCOW. Dec 8 (Interfax) - Concrete plans about the privatization of the state stake in PJSC RusHydro will become clear in H1 2017, deputy director of the Economic Development Ministry's department for tariff regulation Yevgeny Olkhovich told journalists on Thursday.
"In H1 2017 it will be possible to announce concrete plans," he said, adding that this will become clear when the privatization plan for 2017 and subsequent years is adopted.
He called the reduction of the state's stake in RusHydro from almost 67% to 60.5% after recapitalization in favor of VTB "quasi-privatization".
"One should not formally call this a privatization, but calling it a quasi-privatization is possible," he said. After the recapitalization, the bank may receive about 13% of RusHydro's capital, RusHydro Deputy CEO George Rizhinashvili said. He said that in the framework of the recapitalization a number of deals for raising funds from regions, for example, Yakutia, is possible. He did not rule out raising funds from foreign investors.