MOSCOW, June 18 – RAPSI. The Moscow Commercial Court has scheduled for August 1 the preliminary hearings into a lawsuit over the tender to sell 20 percent of the shares in Apatit, PhosAgro's unit.

The claim was filed by the Acron mineral fertilizer manufacturer which demands to invalidate the rules of the tender. The company also seeks to obligate the Federal Agency for State Property Management to privatize the shares in accordance with legislation.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service reported that it extended the consideration of Acron’s application on the sale of Apatit’s portfolio on June 13 until a government commission passes its decision.

According to the economic agency’s representative, the term for receiving proposals on the purchase of a 20-percent stake in Apatit will be extended until September 15. The official specified that this does not mean that a new tender has opened and so far new proposals will not be accepted.

As of late 2011, a 52 percent stake in the Acron group was controlled by offshore companies registered in Cyprus. A 19.78 percent stake in the company belongs to Russia’s Acronagroservice.

Apatit is Russia’s largest apatite concentrate manufacturer.

Its owners include Lacerta Holdings with a 6.9 percent of its ordinary shares and the Federal Agency for State Property Management with a 20 percent stake in the charter capital.