Russian President Dmitry Medvedev asked the government and the Central Bank to work out proposals by September for cutting the state’s stakes in state-owned banks to less than 50 percent, the Kremlin press service said on Thursday.
The government owns 75.5 percent in Russia’s second largest bank, VTB, and 100 percent in the Russian Agricultural Bank, while Bank of Russia holds 57.6 percent in the country’s top lender Sberbank. The three banks are included in a privatization program.
In 2010 the Russian government approved a three-year $59 billion privatization program, under which the state is to reduce its holding in top companies to a controlling stake.
The sales were kicked off in early 2011 with the sale of a 10 percent in VTB for 95 billion rubles ($3.4 billion). The government plans to sell the other 10 percent in the bank in the second half of this year.
Sberbank is likely to start a road-show for investors in April for sale of a 7.6 percent stake owned by Bank of Russia. The Russian government originally planned to sell this stake last September, but had to delay its plans due to the turmoil on domestic and global markets.
The state’s stake in the Russian Agricultural Bank is scheduled to be cut to 75 percent by 2015.