Monday 28 March 2011

London listing for Russian electricity giant

The operator of Russia's electricity grid today listed on the London Stock Exchange, making it the largest publicly traded electricity transmission company in the world.

Federal Grid manages over 121,000 km of transmission lines and around 800 substations. Its biggest shareholder is the Russian government, with a 79.48% stake.

Chairman of Federal Grid's management board, Oleg Budargin, said: "This is an important milestone for Federal Grid, which aspires to become a global leader in introducing innovation and power-saving technologies to the electricity transmission operations."

He said the reason for the listing was "to make it easier for international investors to access our shares. We believe that this international listing will help to boost the liquidity of our depositary receipts and further diversify our investor base."