Source: Dergunova Tapped to Lead Property Agency

24 May 2012, The Moscow Times

Vedomosti

VTB board member Olga Dergunova will be appointed to head the Federal Property Management Agency, Vedomosti reported Wednesday, citing unnamed government sources.

Documents confirming the nomination are not yet draw up, but her candidacy is the most realistic and she has the support of First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, said one government administration source.

Dergunova was the head of Microsoft in Russia from 1995 through 2007, when she moved to VTB, where she now oversees the work of foreign subsidiaries of the bank.

The Federal Property Management Agency manages state property and is responsible for implementing privatization plans.

Meanwhile, the government placed majority stakes of power grids FSK and MRSK Holding on a list of assets that cannot be sold to private owners, making it unlikely that they will be part of the government's privatization drive in the near term.

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree that made 79.55 percent of FSK and 53.69 percent of MRSK so-called strategic assets, alongside with 60.38 percent of power giant Rushydro, according to his press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

That means that any further privatization will need fresh approval by Putin before it can go ahead.

"This decree is aimed at preserving the interests of the state as the main shareholder," Peskov told Reuters.

All three firms have been named on recent privatization wish lists, although the multibillion-dollar plan remains in its early stages with a 10 percent sale of lender VTB the only notable disposal.

Airport Consolidation Moving Forward

14 May 2012, The Moscow Times

Vedomosti

The government will announce a tender before the end of the month to select an independent foreign consultant to develop a strategy to consolidate state assets in Moscow's airports.

The government intends to unite Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports and give them a runway at Domodedovo.

The state owns 82 percent of shares in Sheremetyevo, 25 percent minus one share in Vnukovo International Airport, 75 percent plus one share in Vnukovo, as well as all their runways and infrastructure and the runway and infrastructure at Domodedovo, sources including Sheremetyevo head Mikhail Vasilenko said.

The decision to consolidate state assets and engage an independent consultant was made at a meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov on April 16, Vasilenko said.

According to the minutes of the meeting, the Transportation Ministry and the Economic Development Ministry were to prepare and submit proposals for the development of the Moscow air hub by May 5.

"All the work was done on time. It was determined in the government with the proposals for the unification of the airports that a state company will be created, and its market capitalization will be about $7 billion," a federal official said.

It would be easier to attract investment to such a company than to each airport separately, a top manager at a Moscow airport said. In addition, it will allow the state to focus on the development of regional airports that require more attention, Vasilenko said.

An employee of one of Moscow's airports said that after the foreign consultant's research, an independent appraiser will be hired who will assess the state company. It will be wholly owned by the state in the first phase. Then the participation of the private shareholders in Vnukovo and Domodedovo will be considered.