Kommersant said Yelena Baturina, the wife of Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, is offering to hand over part of her company's assets to the state if the bailout is agreed. The request has been submitted to the Economics Ministry.
Baturina, whose personal wealth was estimated by Forbes Magazine last year at $4.2 billion, is believed to have lost a large portion of her wealth in the financial crisis.
A large part of Inteko's debt has formed as a result of stakes bought by the company in major state-controlled companies - gas giant Gazprom, Sberbank, and oil company Rosneft - using bank loans. In 2006 the stakes were valued at $3.15 billion but have since lost much of their value, resulting in large margin calls.
Inteko now owes around 34 billion rubles ($970 million) to banks, mainly to Sberbank, Gazprombank, the Bank of Moscow, and VTB. The company says it needs another 15 billion rubles ($428 million) for working capital financing.
An Economics Ministry spokesman told Kommersant that the government's working group set up to examine the financial state of companies listed as strategic organizations will review Inteko's application for state support by the end of the week.
Baturina's company wants to take out vast new loans to finance the debt, and is asking the state to guarantee the loans. As collateral for what is effectively a huge state bailout, Inteko is offering its real estate, land, and development projects.
Baturina, the 45-year-old second wife of the Moscow mayor, set up Inteko in 1991. She has repeatedly faced accusations of using her husband's position to secure lucrative construction contracts, and has taken several newspapers and journalists to court over corruption allegations, winning every case so far.
