Bashneft privatisation: Russian President Vladimir Putin this week gave his approval to plans to privatise the state-owned oil company Bashneft, the RIA Novosti news agency is reporting.The company was one of two oil firms that Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev marked as likely candidates for privatization earlier this year as a means of counteracting the economic effects of falling oil prices.
The Kremlin currently owns a 50% share in the company, with the regional government in the republic of Bashkortostan owning 25% of the remainder.
Bashneft was originally set up by the transfer of oil related assets of the Soviet oil ministry to the regional government in Bashkortostan by Boris Yeltsin. In 2002-3, it was privatised by the republic’s governor and Yeltsin sidekick Murtaza Rakhimov through Bashkir Capital, a holding company controlled by Rakhimov’s son Ural. In 2009, a controlling interest in Bashneft was acquired for $2bn by Vladimir P. Yevtushenkov.
Putin OKs Bashneft privatisation
Source: The Moscow Times