But potential investors already named by Ostankino appeared to know little or nothing Thursday about their role in the privatization and future management of Russia's largest television station.
President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree this week that orders the conversion of Ostankino into a joint-stock company in which the state will hold a 51 percent share and a consortium of Russian companies will own the rest.
Ostankino's chairman, Alexander Yakovlev, has named commercial banks Inkombank, Stolichny and Menatep, car manufacturer AvtoVAZ and Aeroflot as the most likely investors in the privatized television company.
Alexander Dmitriyev, Ostankino's deputy chairman in charge of economics, confirmed in an interview Thursday that these companies were on a preliminary list of investors, saying it is expected to be finalized "within a few days." He said foreign companies would not be on the list, but would be able to participate in subsequent stages.
Ostankino is seeking large-scale investment to upgrade its transmission facilities in order to make broadcasting cheaper, he said, adding that about 80 percent of the government's budget for television currently goes to pay transmission costs.
A spokeswoman for Aeroflot, however, said she was not aware of the project and learned about it from a television report.
"There is nothing much I can tell you about it," said Larisa Uvarova. "I've contacted my managers and they could not say anything either."
Other would-be investors in Ostankino, said although they knew about the project, could not provide any details on their companies' investment plans.
"It's a large-scale national project and it is important for us to participate," said Anatoly Mironov, spokesman for Inkombank. "As to actual business, it's not clear how profitable this project can be, because no company information is available at Ostankino."
Dmitriyev of Ostankino argued that his company would provide all necessary financial information to investors.
"It will be available to our shareholders," he said.
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