Russia RusHydro may hold $592 mln share sale in 2009

MOSCOW, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Russian hydro-electricity giant RusHydro (HYDR.MM) may seek to raise 16 billion roubles ($591.5 million) through a public share offering next year, it said in a statement on Monday.

The board of directors will propose the new offering to shareholders at their extraordinary general meeting on Nov. 17, the statement said.

Under a previous plan RusHydro wanted to sell 4.3 billion roubles in equity, and an independent valuation set the price for that offering at 2.02 roubles per share.

However, the financial crisis has sapped the stock's value. It was trading at around 0.40 roubles per share before Russia's stock exchanges suspended trading on Friday.

The price of the new share offering will be determined by the board of directors if the shareholders approve the new share sale plan.

Under Russian corporate law, the new shares cannot be sold for less than their face value, which is one rouble apiece for RusHydro shares.

The Russian government has earmarked funds in the federal budget for 2008 and 2009 to buy up enough shares to at least maintain its controlling stake in RusHydro, the world's second-largest producer of renewable energy after Hydro Quebec. (Reporting by Olga Popova, writing by Simon Shuster, editing by Will Waterman)