Russian resources also for foreign investors
The government has drawn up rules for foreign investors that will allow them access, under certain conditions, to large deposits of oil, gas, copper and gold, the Moscow Times reports.
Under proposals submitted to the State Duma last week on strategic natural resource deposits, foreign investors would be able to buy stakes in companies that produce oil, gas, copper and gold at strategic fields, the Moscow Times reports.
However, as previously reported by BarentsObserver, government approval will be needed in cases when a foreign company seeks a 50 percent acquisition of an enterprise engaged in a strategic sector. If the foreign company is state-controlled, Russian government approval will be needed also for acquisitions of 25 percent stakes.
Conditions will be even tougher for foreign companies seeking stakes in the mineral extraction industry. In those cases, foreign companies need government approval when they want to buy more than 10 percent of a company. If the foreign company is partly owned by a state, the limit is only five percent.
