Officials working on finalising Bashneft stake sale parameters

Russia’s economy minister is working on finalising “parameters, demand, valuation and the form” of the Bashneft stake sale. Reuters photo by Maxim Zmeyev.

Bashneft stake sale valued between $4.6-4.9 billion

MOSCOW, Sept 14 (Reuters) – Russia’s Economy Ministry is working towards finalising a framework of mid-sized oil producer Bashneft’s privatisation where new bidders for the state’s stake could emerge, the ministry said on Wednesday.

In emailed reply to Reuters questions, the ministry said it was working on finalising “parameters, demand, valuation and the form” of oil firm’s stake sale. The state has planned to sell nearly 51 percent stake in Bashneft.

“It may happen that new bidders may emerge… Privatisation could happen any time in 2016”, the ministry said. It added that Ernst & Young valuation of the stake of between 297 billion roubles to 315 billion roubles ($4.6-4.9 billion) remains relevant till the end of this year.

(Reporting by Denis Pinchuk, editing by Katya Golubkova)