Grodno Azot may be sold without tender

A part of the state's stake in Grodno Azot joint stock company can be sold as a result of direct negotiations without a tender.

It was said by chairman of Belneftekhim concern Ihar Liashenka during a press conference in Minsk today, Interfax reports.

“Grodno Azot was earlier offered for sale, but no one wanted to buy it. If an investor feels it has enough strength to satisfy our demands, we can work with it individually,” he said.

According to him, he cannot say now what particular companies are involved in negotiations.

Grodno Azot is Belarus's biggest consumer of natural gas that the company uses in nitrogen fertiliser production.

The state's stake in the company's authorised capital is 99.97%, which is managed by Belneftekhim concern.

The Belarusian State Property Committee announced a tender in May 2014 to find an investor to privatise a part of the state's stake in Grodno Azot. The investor was invited to buy 25% of the shares plus one share (1,629,515 shares) at $414 million.

The Belarusian authorities were looking for an investor that would have own gas reserves or guarantees of a gas supplier for signing a contract on natural gas shipments in the amount enough to keep the plant and the new production facility operating at full capacity for at least 10 years at a price that would allow the company to maintain operations and pay down debt.

At the beginning of December 2013, three Russian and one Qatari companies expressed their willingness to buy a part of the state's shares in the Belarusian fertiliser producer.

Russian ambassador to Belarus Surikov said that Russia's EuroChem was closer to the goal of entering the integration project on the base of Grodno Azot than Gazprom.

In 2013, Grodno Azot was included in the list of Belarusian companies for setting up Belarusian-Russian joint ventures.