According to Andrei Rappoport, Board member at electric power monopoly RAO UES, Gazprom, the natural gas monopoly, is being considered as a potential acquirer of RAO UES's foreign assets. The assets actually belong to RAO UES and Rosenergoatom's joint venture InterRAO.
Andrei Rappoport added that no official decision has been made by the company's board and other potential purchasers (oil companies, foreign investors and others) are also being taken into account.
Moreover, as RAO UES is state-controlled, the decision is going to be taken after consultation with the government. Still, Andrei Rappoport expects a sale within the next 12 to18 months. InterRAO was recently appraised by CSFB to be worth around $1 billion. A source in Rosenergoatom believes that Gazprom is the most probable winner, because the Russian state intends to use Gazprom to acquire every energy business over which it wants to retain control.