Port of Murmansk up for sale
Murmansk Port can get new owners by the end of the year, as both the state and the two largest owners put their shares out for sale.
The largest stakeholders in Murmansk Sea Commercial Port, Specialized Project Investments and Laterium Commercial Limited, have decided to sell their 47,65 percent of the stocks in the port, Russian Business Consulting reports.
The trigger price for the shares is 7.5 billion rubles (app € 180 mill). The auction is scheduled for Ocotber 11.
The total value of the port is estimated to 20 billion rubles (app € 480 mill).
As BarentsObserver previously reported, the Russian state plans to sell its 25,49 percent stake in the port by the end of the year. Murmansk Port was last year included in a list of state-owned enterprises to be privatized.
Specialized Project Investments and Laterium Commercial Limited are owned by Russian businessmen Nikolay Yegorov and Soslan Khorebov. They have been looking for a buyer for the shares in Murmansk Port for a long time. In February, it was reported that oil tycoon Gennady Timchenko had sealed a deal, but this later turned out to be untrue.
Murmansk Sea Commersial Port has the capacity to handle about 20 million tons of goods per year. In 2010, the port handled 12,87 million tons, a drop of 14,8 percent from 2009. Analytics believe that coal companies might be interested in buying the shares that now are out for sale. Two of the largest exporters in the port are Siberian Coal Energy Company and Kuzbassrazrezugol.
