Bloomberg 25 September 2012
Billionaire Vladimir Evtushenkov’s AFK Sistema rose after saying it plans to compete for state-run OAO Russian Railways’ 25 percent stake in OAO Freight One in October.
Sistema gained as much as 1.9 percent before closing up 0.4 percent at 26.361 rubles in Moscow. The London-traded stock lost 1.5 percent to $22.28. The Micex Index fell 0.5 percent to 1,489.92.
Sistema considers the rail industry to be attractive and may become a financial investor in the asset, Julia Belous, a spokeswoman for the company, said today by phone. Evtushenkov’s Sistema and Vladimir Lisin’s UCL Holdings transportation company were the only companies to submit bids, Kommersant reported today. The minimum price will be 45 billion rubles ($1.45 billion), the newspaper said.
“The railway transport sector is a high-growth, high- return story,” VTB Capital analysts led by Ivan Kim said in an e-mailed note. “We believe that the purchase of a 25 percent stake at the stated starting price would be positive for Sistema.”
Read more…