Federal gov't loses its positions in ALROSA

A scandal may break out among ALROSA's shareholders in the near future, the Kommersant newspaper reported. According to some sources in the company, the other day the government social guarantee fund of servicemen 'Garantiya' sold a 5 percent block of shares in ALROSA, which produces diamonds totaling $1.5bn annually, to structures that acted in the interests of the authorities of Yakutia. This step seriously weakens the positions of federal authorities before the coming shareholder meeting scheduled for the end of this week. ALROSA's major shareholders are the Russian and Yakutian governments that have 32 percent each, 23 percent of the block of shares belong to the company's employees, 8 percent to administrations of eight Yakutian districts and 5 percent belonged to the 'Garantiya' fund. The buyer of this 5 percent stake is supposed to be Grigory Berezkin, president of the ESN group. If this deal was made, the federal center's plans on consolidating the company's financial flows will be in danger, as the 'Garantiya' fund traditionally supported the federal government at shareholder meetings.

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