Page 12 - bne_newspaper_April_19_2019

bne Invest
April 19, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 12
VEB.RF to buy major stake in stoligarch Rotenberg's construction company Mostotrest Ben Aris in Berlin
The Russian state-owned development bank VEB. RF (formerly Vneshtorgbank) announced it will buy a stake in one of Russia’s largest construction companies Mostotrest that is owned by stoligarch and president Vladimir Putin’s close personal friend billionaire Arkady Rotenberg.
The deal is bound to raise eyebrows as Rotenberg has grown wealthy on innumerous state contracts to construct major pieces of infrastructure. At
the same time since VEB was taken over by Putin confident Igor Shuvalov the bank has been tasked with overseeing the massive state-sponsored investment programme into infrastructure where billions of dollars will be spent.
The size of the stake in Mostotrest is still under discussion and may be “more than a blocking
stake”, as well as a significant stake in Alexey Krapivin Group of Companies 1520 (28.33%) and its partners, Vedomosti reported. VEB is prepared to buy from 30 to 49% in each of the companies, the paper said citing people close to the deals.
If the deal with Mostotrest goes through then VEB would become the major shareholder. Currently 94.2% of Mostotrest PJSC is owned by TFK- Finance, it is 100% owned by Stroyprojectholding LLC, which is owned by Rotenberg, who is also named in the US sanctions lists.
Experts estimate the cost of the deal for VEB will be between RUB30bn ($466mn) to RUB130bn ($2bn).
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Gold miner Lydian's shares up on favourable ruling from Armenian court
Mining company Lydian International Limited announced on April 12 a favourable ruling by the Administrative Court of the Republic of Armenia that instructed the Armenian police
to remove trespassers and their property from the company’s Amulsar gold mining project site and assure Lydian free passage to Amulsar. The Toronto-listed company’s shares rose significantly on the news.
Access to Amulsar in south-central Armenia, which is being developed by Lydian, has been blocked for months by protesters who say the project will result in significant pollution to the local area, though this has been denied by Lydian.
The company filed an appeal to the Administrative Court in September 2018, after local police decided there was no basis for the removal of protesters, or their vehicles, tents, and trailers,
to allow Lydian to access the Amulsar site.
“The Court ruling stated that the right to as- sembly is not absolute and may not be exercised anywhere, in this case, on private property without the consent of the legitimate owner. Therefore, the police are required to remove the trespassers and their property from the Company’s Project site,” Lydian said in the statement. The ruling is due to be enforced within one month.
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