Putin Isn’t About to Let Go of the Crown Jewels After Alrosa
- State asset sales in question after offering of Alrosa shares
- Planned sales follow years of state acquisitions under Putin
An employee uses tweezers to sort through a large collection of rough diamonds on a sorting table at the Yakutsk Diamond Trading Enterprise (YaPTA), operated by Alrosa PJSC, in Yakutsk, Russia, on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergHatched in harsh economic times, Russia’s latest wave of privatization is off to a mixed start, and a sequel is by no means guaranteed.
The sale of a 10.9 percent stake in Alrosa PJSC was the biggest divestment of a state asset since the government reduced its stake in the world’s largest rough-diamond producer almost three years ago. Managed by the nation’s two biggest banks, both of them state-run, shares were priced at a 3.8 percent discount to Alrosa’s closing price on Friday. While plans as recently as five years ago called for the state’s stake to be reduced to zero by 2017, the stock offering still left Russia in control of 33 percent of Alrosa, with regional and municipal governments holding another 33 percent.