Sovcomflot-sale proceeds to go to building atomic icebreaker - Ivanov
MOSCOW. Dec 24 (Interfax) - Russia will be building a next-generation nuclear-powered icebreaker using proceeds from the sale of a stake in Sovcomflot, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said during a Friday meeting of the Maritime Collegium.
"The funds from the sale of a certain stake in Sovcomflot will not be simply stored away, but go to the construction of a new-generation atomic icebreaker. This is fundamentally important," Ivanov said.
That will be the task issuing from the meeting, he said.
Government plans call for selling 50% minus one share in Sovcomflot in the 2011-2013 timeframe. The deputy chief of Russia's state-property fund Rosimuschestvo, Eduard Adashkin, has told the press that this bit of privatization could take place in any of those three years. An appraisal of Sovcomflot ahead of privatization is not yet being done.
Sovcomflot is the world's biggest operator of Aframax tankers and the second biggest operator of product tankers. The fleet includes 144 vessels with capacity totaling 10.5 million deadweight tonnes. Sovcomflot is 100% state-owned.