RZD still has no clear stance on TransContainer sale - Belozerov
MOSCOW. Dec 7 (Interfax) - Russian Railways (RZD) still has no clear stance on the sale of 50% plus one share in container freight operator TransContainer , RZD chief Oleg Belozerov told the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
"Our colleagues and co-shareholders [the Summa Group] have made an offer [for the sale of RZD's stake in the company]. We have looked at potential approaches, but we still have no categorical position," Belozerov said.
"TransContainer is after all a certain type of monopoly, and we are a monopoly, so to sell a monopoly to somebody... Some say a monopoly is bad, but there's nothing worse than if a monopoly is privately owned. So we're planning our own vision within management, which we can then refer to board committees and discuss the approach," he said.
"We think that in a good competitive environment our colleagues would earn money for us as they would be able to compete and they would haul more freight for us. But if there's a monopoly we wouldn't be able to influence decision-making, and this could result in losses for RZD. We're looking at this and think it should not be done this way," he said.
Summa Group owns 24.1% of TransContainer via FESCO and has been suggesting that RZD sell its stake since June.