VTB Transfers 10.63% Alrosa Stake to Federal Agency

VTB Group, Russia’s second largest bank and an Alrosa shareholder, announced Monday that it had sold its 10.63 percent stake in the state-owned diamond mining company.

The move, VTB said, is part of an agreement with the Federal Property Management Agency. The Alrosa shares were traded with the federal agency for other federal property, the resale of which raised RUB8.7 billion ($380 million) for the bank, Bloomberg reported.

In June it was announced that Alrosa had transferred a share issue to the federal government, increasing the government’s stake in Alrosa from 37 percent to 50 percent plus one share and giving it a majority ownership of the diamond miner.

Prior to this, Alrosa said that it would issue 72,726 new shares worth RUB982 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.