Russia IES, Gazprom to buy TGK-7 on May 15 -source
MOSCOW, May 14 (Reuters) - Russia's former electricity monopoly UES EESR.MM will sell power firm TGK-7 (VTGK.MM) on Thursday to billionaire Viktor Vekselberg and gas major Gazprom (GAZP.MM), sources close to the sale said on Wednesday.
Vekselberg's investment vehicle, Integrated Energy Systems (IES), is putting in a joint bid with Gazprom, and there are no other bidders vying for the 30 percent stake in TGK-7 that is going on the auction block on Thursday, the sources said.
The price is very likely to be 2.848 roubles per share, the same as in the company's March secondary offering of shares, one of the sources said.
Shares of TGK-7 were trading at 2.04 roubles on the MICEX exchange in Moscow at 0900 GMT, at a 28 percent discount to the likely purchase price.
IES, also known by its Russian acronym KES, already owns just under 30 percent of TGK-7, meaning that the acquisition of the 30 percent stake will give it control.
Under Russian corporate law, the purchase of a stake larger than 30 percent would oblige IES to make a buyout offer to TGK-7 shareholders at the price of Thursday's acquisition.
UES is selling TGK-7, along with 19 other major power generating firms, as part of a sweeping reform of the sector that will see the Soviet-era monopoly dismantled and mostly privatised by July 1.
Gazprom and IES have emerged as the two main players in the liberalised power sector, separately acquiring some of the choicest UES assets and threatening to dominate the sector.
This would be the first time they jointly make a power acquisition.
Gazprom has secured effective control of four of the 20 large power producers, including the main suppliers of electricity to Moscow and St. Petersburg.
IES has bought up effective control of three, while all of the other strategic investors acquiring UES subsidiaries have each gained control of only one firm so far.
Vekselberg's IES is also leading a consortium of Russian billionaires in bidding for power producer OGK-1 (OGK1.MM), one of Russia's largest power generators, whose sale expected to raise as much as $7 billion this year. (Reporting by Olga Popova; Writing by Simon Shuster; Editing by David Holmes)
