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in New York. What was the rationale for that?
RL: It is a minority US broker but it is
in keeping with our idea of niche. They have access to certain deals and flows that we can’t get by ourselves. We see strong management and strong research. We need strong research on American stocks for Russia and we can execute
on this with our membership on NYSE,
which Tigress doesn't have. The deals they can access are difficult to find from Russia. So that is why we have our US office and the partnership.
BA: You are providing access and services to Russian investors that want to come to the States: but that business is still going on?
RL: Of course. Normally you need a plat- form to be competitive. There are inter-
active brokers getting into Russia and pro- viding access to US, but we have a lot of advantages too. There are still billions of dollars coming into investment accounts and they are looking to diversify. And we want to be there to catch this flow.
The SPF and the nation's economy min- istry are going to complete preparation of privatisation conditions in three days, Trubarov said, and will make an official announcement to launch the process in mid-October.
Alexander Paraschiy at Kyiv-based brokerage Concorde Capital believes that "at first glance, the starting price of Centrenergo looks feasible for potential investors". However, market experts agree that the company will likely be sold to the Ukrainian business- man Vitaliy Kropachev, who in recent months has monopolised coal supplies to Centrenergo.
According to information supplied by the company, coal companies controlled by the businessman – the Chervonoly- manska coal mine based in the southeast of Ukraine, as well as three coal cleaning facilities – accounted for 83% of sup- plies (1.9mn tonnes) to Centrenergo in January-August.
Ukraine has a long tradition of local oli- garchs manoeuvring to prevent the fair and open sale of state-owned assets. The government has tried to privatise Odessa Port Plant (OPP) three times already but it has proven impossible to sell partly because of a debt of UAH193mn owed
to Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash's company Ostchem.
This interview is part of a podcast. List to the whole interview here
Centrenergo's Trypilska power plant has been the largest supplier of electric power in the Kyiv region since the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was shut down.
KYIV BLOG: Vested interests threaten to capture Centrenergo privatisation
Sergei Kuznetsov in Kyiv
The Ukrainian authorities will attempt to privatise the coun- try's leading power generating company Centrenergo in late November- early December. However, the privatisa- tion tender of what Kyiv has branded
as a jewel in the crown of state assets seems to have been reduced to a farce, with the transfer of the company to a businessman who has close ties with Petro Poroshenko's team.
On October 3, the Ukrainian cabinet approved a starting price for the sale of the 78.3% stake in Centrenergo of
UAH5.98bn ($210mn), according to State Property Fund's (SPF’s) head Vitaliy Trubarov. This will be the biggest priva- tisation of the year and has been widely anticipated as the company is considered one of the most attractive in the govern- ment’s portfolio of assets to be sold off.
“Ukraine has a long tradition of local oligarchs manoeuvring to prevent the fair and open sale of state-owned assets”
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