VTB has two parties interested in acquiring bank's stake in Pulkovo Airport, due diligence underway - bank president

MOSCOW. Dec 2 (Interfax) - VTB has two potential buyers interested in acquiring its stake in St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, and due diligence is underway, VTB President and Board Chairman Andrei Kostin told reporters on the sidelines of the bank's Russia Calling! investment forum.

"The interest is primarily from those who already own airports and for whom this airport would be another one. That would probably be fair. We are currently conducting due diligence. At least two [potential buyers] are interested, namely well-known individuals who already own a significant number of airports. There was even a third party, but we are not interested in merger proposals. We will sell, and will not be merging, joining a minority group," Kostin said.

When asked whether VTB plans to sell its 49.5% stake in Gelendzhik Airport, Kostin replied that the bank has not yet discussed this possibility.

"We have not discussed this yet. Gelendzhik was closed for a long time. It was not generating much money. However, significant investments were made there, and [selling the stake] has not been discussed yet. We have partners, but we have not discussed it with them yet," Kostin said.

Kostin told reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum 2025 in early September that the bank had not received any interesting offers to sell its stake in Pulkovo. "Thus far, we have received the following proposals that some do not have the money, and that others say, 'Let's merge into our own corporation,' but we are not interested in holding a 5% stake in five more airports," he said.

Kostin said that among those interested in VTB's stake in Pulkovo Airport are those interested in Moscow's Domodedovo Airport, which became state-owned in June this year after previously being controlled by entrepreneur Dmitry Kamenschik. "We are being offered to merge with other major partners. We will see. Perhaps those who do not buy Domodedovo now might buy Pulkovo," he said.

Kostin did not specify to whom he was referring. Vitaly Vantsev, co-owner of Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, had previously publicly expressed interest in Domodedovo.

"Domodedovo? No, no, absolutely not," Kostin said in response to whether VTB itself was interested in Domodedovo.

VVSS Holding LLC owns Northern Capital Gateway LLC (VVSS), which operates Pulkovo Airport, and VTB holds the largest stake in VVSS Holding LLC. Other major co-owners include Oman's Orbit Aviation (25%), previously owned by Germany's Fraport; and Qatar's F3 Holding LLC (24.99%).

Pulkovo handled 20.9 million passengers in 2024 to become the country's second-largest airport in terms of passenger traffic. Domestic flights handled 16.7 million passengers versus 16.9 million in 2023, and international flights handled 4.2 million passengers versus 3.5 million in 2023. The base carrier is Rossiya Airlines, part of the Aeroflot Group .

VTB is also the largest co-owner of Gelendzhik Airport with a 49.5% stake.

Novaport, Airports of the Regions, and Aerodinamika, which operate airport terminals across the country's regions, are the largest private airport holding companies in Russia.