Russia to put up 23.76% of shares in Aeroflot for sale
MOSCOW. May 25 (Interfax) - Russia will put up 23.76% of shares in PJSC Aeroflot - Russian Airlines for sale, the Federal Property Agency (Rosimushchestvo) said in a statement.
On Friday evening, Rosimushchestvo announced a selection process for the organizer of the sale of this stake. A government order dated April 28 was cited as the basis for this.
Applications will be accepted from May 22 to June 8, and the envelopes will be opened on June 9.
The organizer must ensure an assessment of the market value of the stake, as well as submit "a report on possible transaction structures that maximize the inflow of funds into the federal budget," Rosimushchestvo said.
The applicant must have experience in placing shares on the stock market, it said.
The Finance Ministry expects two or three transactions for the sale of shares in state-owned companies on the stock market in 2026, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev previously said. A decision has already been essentially made for one of them, he said in mid-April, clarifying that it was a secondary public offering (SPO).
"Now I can speak more or less confidently about one, where a decision has already been more or less made. And I think we will see one good placement this year," Moiseyev said at the Moscow Exchange Forum.
The previous SPO of Aeroflot took place in October 2020, when a secondary share issuance was aimed at stabilizing operations amid the crisis in air travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The company placed 1,333,919,149 ordinary shares and raised 80.04 billion rubles (at a price of 60 rubles per share). Shares for the bulk of this amount (50 billion rubles) were purchased by Russia using funds from the National Wealth Fund. Around 30 billion rubles came from the market portion of the SPO, with anchor investors including the Russian Direct Investment Fund (DIF) together with sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East (the extent of their participation was not disclosed). VTB head Andrei Kostin said that the bank (VTB Capital also acted as an organizer of the transaction) bought a small stake in the company for 5 billion rubles during the placement. The investment amount corresponded to approximately 3.4% of the airline's increased charter capital.
Aeroflot's charter consists of 3,975,771,215 ordinary shares with a par value of 1 ruble each. The market value of the 23.76% stake, based on current quotes on the Moscow Exchange (slightly above 47 rubles per share), is approximately 44.5 billion rubles.
Aeroflot is the largest aviation group in Russia, uniting the airline of the same name as well as the Pobeda and Rossiya airlines. The state controls 73.8% of the company's shares (and will therefore retain control after the sale of 23.76%), 1.2% consists of quasi-treasury shares, and 25% are in free float.
