MOSCOW — Private shareholders in Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport have exercised a call option to buy the Russian state's 30.5% stake in the airport, a representative of the Sheremetyevo Holding company told Reuters on Thursday. Sheremetyevo, Russia's largest airport and main international transit hub, had traffic of 49.9 million people in 2019, an 8.9% increase on the previous year, and is the base of national carrier Aeroflot. Earlier on Thursday, the Vedomosti daily reported that Rosimushchestvo, a government agency that handles Russian state property, had received an application from Sheremetyevo Holding to buy the state's stake, but did not specify the price. The chairman of Sheremetyevo's board Alexander Ponomarenko told Reuters in April he and two other partners were considering buying the state's stake in Sheremetyevo last year, with a view to selling to an outside investor.

Source: International New York Times February 13, 2020 15:33 UTC