NPF Budushcheye, NPF Safmar sold shares in Promsvyazbank ahead of rescue - sources
MOSCOW. Dec 15 (Interfax) - Nongovernmental pension fund (NPF) Budushcheye (Future) and NPF Safmar sold their 10% stakes in Promsvyazbank on the Moscow Exchange , two financial market sources told Interfax.
The Central Bank announced on Friday, December 15, that it was stepping in with bankruptcy prevention measures at Promsvyazbank "aimed at improving the bank's financial stability." The day before, the volume of trading in Promsvyazbank shares on the Moscow Exchange hit the previously unheard of level of 16.5 billion rubles.
The sources did not identify the buyers of the shares.
Interfax was unable to obtain comment from NPF Budushcheye, although a source close to the fund confirmed that no Promsvyazbank shares remained in its portfolio.
NPF Safmar is not commenting on the Promsvyazbank share issue. A source close to the fund said it did not see risks of a negative revaluation for those shares.
The two pension funds acquired stakes in the bank during an SPO in 2015.
Promsvyazbank shares averaged at 0.0741 rubles each in Thursday, so a 10% stake in the bank would have been worth 8.2 billion rubles.
Pension funds belonging to the B&N Group (now Safmar) bought about 10% of Promsvyazbank's shares from Promsvyaz Capital B.V., which is owned by brothers Alexei and Dmitry Ananyev, for 6.9 billion rubles in an SPO in May 2015. Blagosostoyanie OPS pension fund, now Buduscheye, owned by Boris Mints, bought 10% for 6.9 billion rubles also. The deals were carried out on the Moscow Exchange and Promsvyaz Capital later contributed the proceeds from the sales to the bank's equity.
Buduscheye currently holds 291.7 billion rubles in pension savings and the Safmar pension fund holds 190.4 billion rubles.