Russia fails again to sell stake in gold miner UGC
Russia fails again to sell stake in gold miner UGC
ReutersTue, May 26, 2026 at 12:10 PM UTC
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An employee stamps gold bars at the Prioksky Non-Ferrous Metals Plant in Kasimov, Russia February 14, 2017. Picture taken February 14, 2017. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
MOSCOW, May 26 (Reuters) - Russia has failed for a second time to auction a stake in gold producer Uzhuralzoloto (UGC) that it seized last year, the federal property management agency said on Tuesday, dealing a blow to the government as it seeks to ease budget pressures.
A Russian court ruled last July that a majority stake in UGC, previously owned by businessman Konstantin Strukov, should be seized and transferred to the state, part of a broader pattern of nationalisation of Russian corporate assets.
The latest auction follows an attempted sale earlier in May, when no bids were received for Strukov's assets. The lot, with a starting price of 162.02 billion roubles ($2.22 billion), included a 67.2% stake in UGC.
This time, the auction was declared invalid because only one bidder submitted a complete application and paid the deposit. A second contender failed to pay the deposit and provide the required documents, the agency, Rosimushchestvo, said in a statement.
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The agency has not said whether it will hold another auction.
As budget strains deepen, the failed sale is a setback for the finance ministry, which had planned to sell the stake by the end of 2025. It did not reply to a request for comment.
The lack of qualified bidders was despite the sale being structured as a Dutch auction, in which the price is gradually lowered until a bid is placed. This could have seen the stake sell for as little as 50% of the initial asking price.
Another court-confiscated asset, Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, was sold via Dutch auction for the minimum price of $869 million in January, with only one bidder participating.
Shares were down 7.67% on the Moscow Exchange in afternoon trading.
(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova. Additional reporting by Darya Korsunskaya. Writing by Alessandra Prentice. Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Potter)
Source: “AOL Breaking”
