Russia was unable to sell its stake in gold mining company UGC because no one bid at the auction. 

The Russian state was unable to hold an auction to sell a stake in gold mining company Uzhuralzoloto (UGK) confiscated last year because no one submitted a bid, a post on the state auction website showed on Monday.

Last July, a Russian court ruled that a majority stake in UGC, formerly owned by businessman Konstantin Strukov, should be confiscated and handed over to the state, part of a broader scheme to nationalize the assets of Russian companies.

The federal property management agency Rosimushchestvo put Strukov's assets up for auction earlier this month, valuing them at 162.02 billion rubles ($2.22 billion). His former 67.2% stake in UGK, one of the 10 largest gold mining companies in Russia, was valued at 140.43 billion rubles.

On Monday, the government auction website said thatplanned sale did not take place.

“The tender was declared invalid because applications for participation in the procedure were not submitted before the deadline,” the website says.

Rosimushket reported that the new auction will begin on Tuesday, and the results will be announced on May 26.

The message said it would be a Dutch auction where the price would be gradually lowered until someone placed a bid. This could result in the user content share price being reduced by up to 50% of the original asking price, the report noted.

Last year, the prosecutor's office fileda claim for confiscation of a share belonging to Strukov, after accusing him and several others of obtaining property “through corruption.” However, he is not in custody and has not yet been formally charged.

The Treasury Department is auctioning off a number of seized assets in hopes of bolstering federal coffers.

In January, Russia managed to sell one of the country's largest and most modern airports, Moscow's Domodedovo, to a subsidiary of the capital's other airport, Sheremetyevo, for 66 billion rubles - just half of its original price of 132.3 billion rubles.

(1 US dollar = 72.9000 rubles)