Russian Government Takes Over Alrosa

Alrosa has transferred a share issue to the government, increasing the government’s stake in Alrosa from 37 percent to 50 percent plus one share and giving the Russian federal government a majority ownership of the Russian diamond miner.

In November, it was announced that Alrosa would issue 72,726 new shares worth R982 million ($40.1 million), with the majority of the share issue being allocated to the federal government and an additional amount to the Sakha republic and the eight diamond mining districts in Sakha.

The newly issued shares were purchased by the government, Alrosa announced Wednesday. The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and eight of its municipal districts, where Alrosa runs diamond mining operations, have retained a 32 and an 8 percent stake in the company respectively.

Alrosa stakeholder VTB Group (Vneshtorgbank) also announced in November that it would transfer its 10.5 percent holding in the mining company to the federal government.