Aeroflot May Place Lebedev Shares On Market

Titlu : Aeroflot May Place Lebedev Shares On Market
Sursa : http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1270766972.html
Autor : Reuters
Data : 08/04/2010

Citat :

Russian flagship airline Aeroflot said on Thursday it may float a 25.8 percent stake currently owned by Alexander Lebedev on the stock-market in a bid to boost its free float and played down the tycoon's threat to back out of the stake sale deal.

Aeroflot's stock is illiquid, and floating Lebedev's stake could be an option for the company to boost its free-float because the government, keen to preserve control over strategic assets, is unlikely to float any of its shares.

The carrier, about half of which is owned by the Russian government, said it was considering a number of options for the stake, which Lebedev agreed to sell back to the airline at a discounted price of USD$400 million in January.

However, the final destination of the Lebedev stake remains uncertain after the former KGB spy and owner of Britain's Independent newspaper tried to back out of the deal last week.

"We don't have any problems with Lebedev," chief executive Officer Vitaly Savelyev told reporters. He declined to comment on Lebedev's complaint that recent share price gains made the deal price too cheap.

"We have several options; one is to swap the stake for (state) assets, and another is to put the shares on the market and increase our free float," Savelyev said. The company closed an order book on Thursday for RUB12 billion roubles (USD$407.9 million) of bonds it is selling to finance the purchase of Lebedev's stake.

Aeroflot, which had not issued bonds since 2002, is placing the bonds with an annual coupon of 7.75 percent, issue organisers Troika Dialog and Sberban said. The issue was two times oversubscribed.

Aeroflot shares closed 3.24 percent lower on Thursday, while the wider Moscow market was down 0.13 percent.

Savelyev said Aeroflot had made a net profit of around USD$100 million in 2009, indicating a sharp improvement in the second half after a USD$14.1 million profit in the first six months.