Russian Post might go public in 3-5 yrs - minister
MOSCOW. Oct 14 (Interfax) - Russian Post could go public in three to five years, Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said on his Twitter account on Monday.
"I'm confident that part of @ruspostofficial [Russian Post] will also be on an exchange in three to five years," Nikiforov wrote, commenting on the "successful offering" of Britain's Royal Mail.
Royal Mail Group Ltd. carried out an IPO on the London Stock Exchange last week, placing 52.2% of its shares at the upper end of the price range and raising GBP1.722 billion ($2.76 billion) not including the greenshoe option. The company's share price shot up 38% on the first day of trading.
Russian Post is still a state unitary enterprise, but the Communications Ministry has drafted a development strategy that calls for incorporating the postal service. The strategy has been submitted to the government for approval.
Nikiforov said in June that a decision to incorporate Russian Post could be made by the end of the year. This will be preceded by amendments to the law governing postal services to remove the restrictions on incorporation. "A separate law needs to be passed for this. We believe that the bill could be submitted to the State Duma immediately after a new law on postal services that will remove the restriction on incorporation," the minister said.
Russian Post closed 2012 with net profit up 2% to 813 million rubles on revenue up 7% to 129 billion rubles. The company's strategy calls for doubling revenue by 2018.
