Investor says Russia utility offer close to market

LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - A consortium of Russian billionaires may offer to buy control of power producer OGK-1 (OGK1.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) from former electricity monopoly UES EESR.MM for a price close to market, the group's leader said on Friday.

"There is a detailed discussion of the conditions of the transaction," oil and metals billionaire Viktor Vekselberg told Reuters in an interview. "I think that the probability that we will make a serious application to UES for control of this company is high."

"We don't want our offer to be very different from the current market price," he said.

Last week UES, which is supposed to finish spinning off salable generators and dissolve in less than two months, said it would postpone the sale of OGK-1, its last big generation asset, and wait for up to two years if did not get a premium.

Vekselberg, whose utilities investment vehicle is leading the bid, declined to comment directly on the OGK-1 valuation of $500 per kilowatt of generating capacity.

The head of the investment vehicle said OGK-1's out-of-pocket investment requirements were high and floated a notional price of $400 per kilowatt last week. (Reporting by Melissa Akin, editing by Richard Chang)