VTB Sets Price for Share Sale
VTB Group set a share price for its public offering at 4.82 kopeks apiece, the bank said in a statement Tuesday.
The state-run bank plans to sell 9 trillion new common shares with a nominal value of 90 billion rubles ($2.9 billion). Shareholders approved a plan to raise capital at the end of June. The government owns a 77.5 percent holding in VTB. (Bloomberg)
IFC Plans Toxic Assets Fund
The International Finance Corporation has started a pilot program aimed at purchasing toxic assets, the IFC said Tuesday at a news conference.
The corporation is ready to invest between $50 million and $200 million into the formation of such a fund for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States and will allocate between 25 percent and 50 percent of the funds necessary for the project, said Greg Alton, the company’s senior investment officer. (MT)
State Considers Dairy Aid
Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik said Tuesday that the government might buy a certain kind of pasteurized milk, types of butter and hard cheese to support domestic farmers.
Proposals have been submitted to the Finance and Economic Development ministries, Skrynnik said.
The ministry also asked a union representing pork producers to submit proposals on protecting the domestic market from rising imports, according to materials distributed to reporters before the meeting. (Bloomberg)
Venezuela-Russia Oil Plans
CARACAS, Venezuela — Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. and a group of Russian oil companies plan to produce 400,000 barrels of oil per day in the Orinoco Belt’s Junin 6 block over a 25-year period, the firm said Tuesday.
There will be a 20 percent recovery rate from the onshore block’s 10 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, it said.
(Bloomberg)
2009 Oil Output Won’t Fall
Russia’s oil output this year will not be less than in 2008, Nikolai Tokarev, head of Transneft, said Tuesday.
“It is quite absolutely clear that the volume of oil output will remain no lower than last year’s levels,” Tokarev said. “There is every reason to say this, people in the oil sector will confirm it.” (Bloomberg)
State Merges Auto Stakes
Russian Technologies will consolidate its stakes in carmakers KamAZ and AvtoVAZ and engine maker Avtodizel in a subsidiary called Rosavto, chief executive officer Igor Zavyalov said Tuesday.
KamAZ CEO Sergei Kogogin will head the unit, and Russian Technologies’ chief will be its chairman, Zavyalov said. (Bloomberg)
For the Record
- Iraq has pre-qualified about 45 companies, including LUKoil, as eligible to bid for work on developing oil fields, Abdul Mahdy Al-Ameedi, deputy director general at the Petroleum Contracts and Licensing Directorate, said Tuesday. (Bloomberg)
- Belarus needs to hold more foreign reserves and gold to help get through the crisis, the International Monetary Fund said Tuesday. (Bloomberg)
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