Alrosa – a pilot privatisation in Russia

A minority stake in Alrosa, a diamond mining potentate (with an approximately 30% share in global production) was privatised on 6–8 July. The 10.9% package was sold for 52.2 billion rubles (around US$816 million) as part of a record fast secondary public offering. According to official information, the number of offers placed by investors was much higher than the number of shares available, and the greatest interest was shown by Russian and European investors – they may acquire 35% of all privatised shares, 25% will most likely be sold to investors from Asia and the Middle East, and 5% to American investors (however, it is unclear what proportion of the offers has in fact been placed by Russian capital). The share price (65 rubles) turned out to be several per cent lower than previous stock market prices.