VTB receives Central Bank and Federal Antimonopoly Service's permission to acquire Russian Post's stake in Pochta Bank

MOSCOW. Nov 28 (Interfax) - VTB has received approval from the Central Bank of Russia and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) to acquire Russian Post's stake in Pochta Bank, VTB First Deputy Chairman Dmitry Pyanov told reporters.

"We have received approval from the FAS and the Central Bank for the transaction to purchase the shares of Pochta Bank owned by Russian Post. I note that the transaction will take place in an unconventional manner, where Pochta Bank itself will buy out the shares of Russian Post which is the second shareholder. The deal is planned as part of a capital reduction process and the transaction will take place in terms of settlements between December 19 and 23. There are also no obstacles to VTB Group becoming the sole shareholder through this non-standard method," he said.

VTB is also awaiting approval from the FAS for a cooperation agreement with Russian Post. A similar agreement was previously in place between Pochta Bank and Russian Post.

An extraordinary general meeting of Pochta Bank's shareholders on October 29 decided to reduce the charter capital from 860.4 million rubles to 430.2 million rubles by buying back and canceling a portion of shares to decrease their total number.

Pochta Bank was established by VTB and Russian Post in 2016 as a retail bank with an extensive regional network based at post offices. VTB and Russian Post now each own 50% minus one share in Pochta Bank, and Pochta Bank CEO Alexander Pakhomov holds the other two shares.

In the summer of this year it was reported that VTB plans to consolidate 100% of shares in Pochta Bank by buying Russian Post's stake. VTB expected to receive permission from supervisory bodies to purchase the stake in October-November and to close the deal by the end of 2024, and merge with Pochta Bank in January 2026.

An independent appraiser valued Pochta Bank at 72 billion rubles for the deal and Russian Post's stake at 36 billion rubles.

Pochta Bank has a network of 25,000 branches serving 83 Russian regions, most of which are located at post offices, including in small and remote population centers. The bank has an active customer base of 8.6 million.