OREANDA-NEWS. JSC RusHydro (ticker symbol: MOEX, LSE: HYDR; OTCQX: RSHYY) announces that today the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has signed a decree on further development of JSC RusHydro allowing the Company to issue additional shares providing that the government's ownership in the share capital of the Company should not be less than 60.5%.

The amount of potential issue of additional shares will be determined after the Board of Directors approves the increase of the Company's share capital. Through placement of shares of additional issue the Company considers to raise funds from JSC Rosneftegaz to its share capital to finance construction of the cascade of Verkhne-Narynskie HPPs in Kyrgyz Republic with total installed capacity of 237.7 MW as well as rehabilitation of the cascade of Perepadnye HPPs with total installed capacity of 340 MW and modernization of the grid infrastructure in Abkhazia.

The Company is also considering possibility to sell to Rosneftegaz its quasi-treasury shares comprising ca. 2.3% of registered share capital of RusHydro.

The full text of a decree (in Russian only) can be accessed here: http://pravo.gov.ru:8080/page.aspx?103652

Construction of the cascade of Verkhne-Narynskie HPPs will allow RusHydro to increase revenue from electricity sale and potential export to neighboring counties. The project provides for construction of four hydropower plants upstream of the Naryn river: Akbulunskaya HPP, Narynskaya HPP No.1, 2 3. The total installed capacity of the plants amounts to 237.7 MW with average annual electricity generation of 942.4 GWh. The project cost is estimated at RUB 24 bn (as of November 2013).

As a part of rehabilitation of the Perepadnye HPPs No.2-4 in Abkhazia the Company plans to replace the main and auxiliary equipment of three hydropower plants of the cascade, and restore their efficiency and available capacity. The cascade of Perepadnye HPPs is located on the territory of Abkhazia lower than Galskiy reservoir on the Inguri river. Currently, only the Perepadnaya HPP No.1 with total installed capacity of 220 MW and annual electricity generation of 400 GWh is in operation. The project implementation will result in increase in electricity generation in Zakavkazsky region, as well as optimization of spare capacity in the unified energy system of the South of Russia, and create opportunities for electricity export to neighboring counties. Currently, the project documentation is being developed.