Freight One, a leading Russian railroad cargo company, is to prepare for an initial public offering (IPO) in late 2013, Freight One CEO Oleg Bukin said on Thursday.
“We plan to ensure our preparedness (for the IPO) by the middle or third quarter of next year,” Bukin said on the sidelines of the seventh international railway business forum.
Russia’s Universal Cargo Logistics Holding (UCL Holding), owned by billionaire Vladimir Lisin, bought 75 percent minus two shares of Freight One, a rail cargo subsidiary of state monopoly Russian Railways, for 125.5 billion rubles ($4.2 billion) in late 2011.
Russian Railways has kept a blocking stake in the rail operator. Lisin is now negotiating the purchase of the remaining stake in Freight One from the rail monopoly.