Russia, Mubadala, RDIF in talks on equity stake in Taman Port - ministry
ST. PETERSBURG. June 20 (Interfax) - Russia and Mubadala are discussing the possibility of the United Arab Emirates fund and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) acquiring a stake in RMP-Taman (RMPT), the management company of the Taman Port responsible for the construction of infrastructure at the port, Deputy Transport Minister Viktor Olersky said on Saturday.
"We're working with Mubadala together with the RDIF. We've gone very far [in the negotiations]," Olersky told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"They usually buy a small stake, this is a fund after all. They capitalize the stake and, say, in a horizon of seven years they sell it," Olersky said.
Earlier during the forum an agreement on the purchase of 50% plus one share of RMPT was signed by Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP): now 100% belongs to Rosmorport. In the framework of the agreement, NCSP should invest money in the construction of infrastructure, the deputy minister said. "Here Rosmorport will have a blocking stake. And futher, NCSP and other private investors. This may be funds, and may in fact be the future terminal operators," Olersky said.
"In particular we had the task of selling for money. We thus proposed keeping 20%-25% [in RMPT] ourselves, and giving the rest to the market, in order to raise money. How much depends upon how much they [co-investors] manage. This will be the form of concession. They will come to the company as concession operators," he said.
Speaking about the interest of other port operators in joining RMPT, the deputy minister said that: "They all were not interested, and only after NCSP appeared, all suddenly became interested. "A number of operators have already said that they also would like to participate in the managing [company]," he said.
The return on investments will be provided through rent. Olersky estimated the domestic standard for rate of return on the project at 16%-18%, adding that "for infrastructure projects this isn't bad."
