RZD hopes to sell stake in Aeroexpress by year's end
ST. PETERSBURG. June 20 (Interfax) - Russian Railways (RZD) plans to sell a stake in LLC Aeroexpress, a Russian passenger rail company, by the end of 2013, RZD senior vice president Valery Reshetnikov told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"Yes, we hope," Reshetnikov said when asked whether the privatization would take place this year.
Reshetnikov said earlier that RZD believed it would make more sense to sell 25% of RZD's 50% stake in Aeroexpress to the passenger service company's current shareholders.
Federal Property Agency head Olga Dergunova, however, said a competitive sale of the stake in Aeroexpress would be preferable. "We believe that the method of competitive negotiations will make it possible to maximize the price, even if the winner turns out to be a current shareholder," she said.
Aeroexpress shareholder Andrei Bokarev has said a 25% stake in the company would be worth 300 million-350 million rubles.
Aeroexpress is a joint venture between RZD, Transgroup AS organizations and businessmen Iskander Makhmudov and Andrei Bokarev, which hold respectively 50%, 25% and 25% of shares in the operator. The company carries passengers by rail to local airports in Moscow and a number of other Russian cities.
