Moscow Exchange finds buyer for RTS Settlement Chamber
MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) - The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has decided to approve CJSC Inter RAO Capital's application to buy 100% of voting shares in RTS Settlement Chamber, the regulator said in a statement.
RTS SC is wholly owned by the Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS . It was reported earlier that the exchange's supervisory board will consider the exchange's divestment of CJSC MICEX-IT and CJSC RTS SC on November 20.
A spokesman for the exchange told Interfax that it is interested in selling its noncore assets, such as MICEX-IT, the operator of the government procurements electronic trading platform, and those that duplicate the functions of the group's core companies, such as RTS SC, if it is offered a satisfactory price.
The exchange said in its consolidated IFRS financial statement for 2012 that its management had decided in March 2013 to sell RTS SC. "RTS Settlement Chamber is ready for immediate sale as of March. The group will try to complete the sale by August 2013," the statement said.
A source familiar with the situation told Interfax earlier that the exchange was negotiating with a potential buyer "from the electricity sector."
"The Inter RAO group has the intention of creating a unified settlement center for carrying out settlement-cash servicing for all subsidiaries," a company representative told Interfax. At present, the acquisition of the company that will be the basis for the center is in the discussion phase, this source said.
RTS SC was part of the deal in which MICEX took over the RTS group. It was founded in 1999 by the Professional Association of Stock Market Participants, the predecessor of the National Association of Stock Market Participants. RTS SC's main purpose was to service the accounts of RTS group clients working on the securities and futures market, RTS Board and RTS Money.
Following the acquisition of the RTS group, the exchange decided to integrate its National Settlement Depository (NSD) with RTS SC and the Depository Clearing Company, transferring all services to NSD.
