No final decision on supplementary issue of RusHydro shares in favor of Rosneftegaz - Peskov
MOSCOW. May 20 (Interfax) - There has been no final decision on a supplementary issue of RusHydro shares totaling 55 billion rubles in favor of Rosneftegaz, Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
No final decision "has been formalized in any way," Peskov said. "We traditionally have never commented on such correspondence. We neither confirm nor deny," he said.
Interfax reported earlier that Russian officials have returned to the idea of using state-owned corporate "war chest" Rosneftegaz, which receives dividends from energy giants Rosneft and Gazprom , to provide support to the power generation sector. The government is discussing the possibility of providing 55 billion rubles to RusHydro in the form of a supplementary issue of shares in favor of Rosneftegaz, rather than state bank VTB , as was supposed previously, a source in the government area and a source close to the company told Interfax.
The sum of 55 billion rubles was determined based on the results of analysis of RusHydro's financial model and work to optimize the investment program, and is sufficient for maintaining the company in a stable financial state and keeping the net debt/EBITDA ratio at no more than 3.5, one of the sources told Interfax.
The president was briefed on the idea and instructed officials to "think about" whether assistance from Rosneftegaz was the sole option, the source told Interfax.
The Economic Development Ministry is examining the president's instruction and will submit a report to the government by July 1, a ministry representative told Interfax. The Energy Ministry has not commented on the situation.
A RusHydro representative emphasized that Rosneftegaz is a strategic investor in the sector, "in accordance with a decree from President Vladimir Putin of May 22, 2012 (No. 695)." However, the company "lacks information concerning those decisions that the executive authorities are examining. RusHydro expects the state bodies to arrive at a decision soon on the issue of refinancing debt that has accumulated at RusHydro's Far Eastern enterprises. Russia will scrupulously adhere to those decisions that are approved on this issue," the representative said.
It was earlier thought that RusHydro might receive 85 billion rubles via a supplementary issue of shares to be purchased by VTB.