Privatization of some cos could be put off to early 2013 - econ minister
VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 4 (Interfax) - The privatization of a number of companies planned for this year could be done at the beginning of next year, Russia's Economic Development Minister Andrei Belousov told the press in Vladivostok on Tuesday.
"We've never set precise timeframes for the privatization of a certain company. That means - it has always been so, and stated - that this will be associated with the world state of affairs, with the conditions, with the possibilities, and so on," Belousov said. "There are now at a high state of readiness a whole range of stakes" in various companies," he said. "This most of all is Apatit , it is Sovcomflot, it is the Novorossiysk port, and certainly, it is Sberbank of Russia , although there the main stake belongs to the Central Bank. But I don't want to set any specific timing now, and would not want to lay out whether this will happen this year or at the beginning of next year. Because it depends on many factors," he said.
If things deteriorate on world markets, the privatization of state stock holdings could be delayed, Belousov said.