President backs divestment of 5% of RZD - Rosimuschestvo chief
ST. PETERSBURG. Sept 5 (Interfax) - Russia's Economic Development Ministry has submitted to the government a draft bill for the divestment of 5% of the stock in OJSC Russian Railways (RZD) , Deputy Economic Development Minister and head of federal state property fund Rosimuschestvo Olga Dergunova said on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Thursday.
"The change that has occurred [in privatization plans compared with June], we suggested to the president to put 25% of RZD into the law on the disposal of shares. The president said he supports the first step of the disposal of 5%. So now a draft law on the possibility of disposing of 5% of shares has been prepared and submitted to the government. The next step, disposing of 20%, we will again make changes to [in law]," Dergunova said.
Initially, Dergunova said, there were proposals concerning the concerning the advisability of the Russian Pension Fund "becoming the investor that, in fact, will receive this income long-term in its favor." "We have not changed this position," she said.
The property fund chief said the draft bill is ready and going through coordination. "It was considered when the disposal of 25% was proposed, all the clearances, but inasmuch as the figure has changed, we legally and formally have to get second coordination to submit it to the State Duma," she said.
Initially, she continued, there were two stages proposed for the divestment of 25% of RZD. "The first is 5% in 2014, and in the neighborhood of 2015-2016 the next 20%. We planned this in the roadmap," she said, noting that these timeframes remain unchanged. "We simply will have to again go and explain, having shown the results of the first stage," she said, referring to the second stage of the possible privatization.
Asked whether Rosimuschestvo thinks the sale of the first 5% to the Pension Fund is a possibility, Dergunova said, "We did not reconsider this point of view."