Russian finance ministry plans to revive mass privatisation drive

By Darya Korsunskaya and Alexander Marrow

March 18 (Reuters) - Russia intends to revive plans for major privatisations in 2025 and also expects to bring in over $1.2 billion by selling assets seized through the courts, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Tuesday.

Shunned by Western capital since launching the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow has been seeking ways to foster more domestic private investment, increase economic efficiency and, ultimately, bolster budget revenues as Russia spends heavily on the war.

"We have had proposals for big privatisation," Siluanov said at a meeting with Rosimushchestvo, Russia's federal property management agency. "In our view, now is the time when we can put this issue on the agenda once again."

In 2010, the finance ministry, then led by reformist Alexei Kudrin, first launched a multi-year privatisation campaign to dispose of state assets, but the scheme ultimately stalled. The state sale of a stake in oil major Rosneft ROSN.MM was the main deal from that time.

In late 2023, Siluanov suggested resurrecting the privatisation drive. He submitted to the government a list of 30 large state-owned companies and proposed to sell shares in them while keeping a controlling stake, as part of an effort to reduce pressure on the domestic borrowing market.

The ministry did not name the proposed companies and no major deals happened. Head of VTB Bank VTBR.MM Andrei Kostin had suggested oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, Russian Railways and Russian Post as potential candidates.

Russian news agencies cited Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev as saying the 2023 list was no longer relevant and that discussions were now centred around about seven large companies, with deals set for 2026 that could bring in 100-300 billion roubles ($1.23-$3.67 billion).

Moiseev declined to name which industries the companies were in and said the overall process would take about 18 months as some are not traded on the market and investors need time to familiarise themselves with the assets on offer.

Siluanov said privatisations would intensify this year, including through court decisions on seized assets.

"In 2025, the receipt of revenues from the sale of such property is envisaged at no less than 100 billion roubles," Siluanov said.

Russia has already quickened the pace of domestic asset seizures in 2025, with courts ruling early this year that a leading grain trader, Moscow's Domodedovo airport and strategic warehouse assets be handed over to the state.

Rosimushchestvo, meanwhile, has stepped in to run foreign-owned assets that Moscow has unilaterally seized in the last three years, such as those formerly held by Danish brewer Carlsberg CARLb.CO and French yoghurt maker Danone DANO.PA.

($1 = 81.7500 roubles)