OREANDA-NEWS. Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Firtash, joint owner of a trading firm that has a monopoly on Russian gas sales to Ukraine, is planning to unite his commercial holdings and float them on the stock exchange, sources close to the businessman said.

The new holding firm, called Group DF, will have assets worth up to $6 billion. Firtash, who was estimated by Polish news weekly Wprost in September to have a personal wealth of $2,4 billion, owns a 45 percent stake in gas trader RosUkrEnergo through his Austria-registered Centragas Holding. Ninety percent of Centragas has already been integrated into Group DF.

Firtash's business partner, Ivan Fursin, controls the remaining 10 percent of Centragas.

Gazprom controls the 50 percent of RosUkrEnergo not belonging to Centragas.

Firtash was first identified as one of the main operators behind RosUkrEnergo last May, when he revealed his association with the company in interviews with a number of international newspapers.

Until 2006, RosUkrEnergo acted as an intermediary trading firm for gas deals between Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

A source close to Firtash said that he would announce his business plans some time next week.