Basheft Alrosa and Rosneft Bashneft

privatization plan: Alrosa, Rosneft and Bashneft were included in an existing privatization plan and are already traded on stock markets, making them easiest to sell, Ulyukayev said, according to the TASS news agency, according to The Moscow Times. The government shares in Basheft and Alrosa are together worth around 600 billion rubles at current market prices, and a 19.5 percent share in Rosneft proposed for sale could raise a further 500 billion rubles . Other companies mooted for sale include shipping company Sovkomflot and a stake in banking group VTB, together worth a further 100 billion rubles. Officials have touted a major sale of state companies as a way to fill a gaping hole in budget revenues due to the low price of oil. President Vladimir Putin at a meeting with officials and heads of state companies on Monday said companies should not be sold at giveaway prices, and added that the government should maintain control over strategic firms and buyers should be registered in Russia. It is also unclear who would buy the shares amid a Russian recession and financial sanctions imposed during the Ukraine crisis in 2014. With share prices — and therefore government revenues from their sale — low, analysts have questioned whether major privatization will go ahead. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.