| Alrosa, the Russian diamond monopoly, has raised $1.3bn in a Moscow public offering as the Russian government pushes forward with its $15bn privatisation programme. The offering was backed by US funds including Oppenheimer and Lazard, as well as the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Russia’s $10bn sovereign wealth fund.
Olga Dergunova, director of Russia’s Federal Property Management Agency defended the involvement of state-backed RDIF in a privatisation deal. RDIF helped “in attracting investors to come to the book?.?.?.?The name [RDIF] is really attractive,” Ms Dergunova said. She added that RDIF had bought a relatively small portion of the offering. According to the fund, it bought the stake alongside “a consortium of foreign institutional investors from North America, Middle East, Western and Northern Europe and Southeast Asia”...............................................Full Article: Source
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