Transport Minister Prefers JV for Luhanskteplovoz.

Mykola Rudkovsky, transport minister, said at a trade conference in Germany that he would like to see a joint venture formed on the basis of Luhanskteplovoz (LTPL: HOLD), and named Siemens (Germany), Transmashholding (Russia) and Bombardier (Canada) as suitable JV partners. The former two were among the eight companies who applied to bid in the privatization auction that was planned for Oct. 3. Rudkovsky said the Cabinet would issue an order to cancel the tender. His comments follow an announcement by the prime minister on Monday that the Cabinet had decided to cancel the tender. Olha Pankiv: Rudkovsky is the first top official to publicly endorse the JV method of privatization, but earlier Andry Klyuyev, an influential deputy prime minister, was said to be supporting such a plan. Clearly a direct privatization of LTPL would be much better for its minority shareholders than a JV. We believe there is still a good chance the tender will be held later this year.