Capital Group reduces exposure to Sberbank, holds 1.4% of votes
MOSCOW. June 2 (Interfax) - The funds of Capital Group, which has more than $1.1 trillion under management, continued in the first quarter of 2014 to reduce their exposure to leading Russian lender Sberbank , in which they held a combined stake of about 2% in mid-2013.
Capital's largest investments in Sberbank are concentrated in the mutual funds family American Funds managed by Capital Research & Management. Sberbank is American Funds' second largest Russian investment after Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) - $600 million and $700 million respectively at the end of the first quarter, American Funds' first quarter report shows. This family of funds holds Russian stocks worth a total of $3.2 billion.
The largest Sberbank stake held by an American Funds fund is at EuroPacific Growth Fund, which held 53.48 million ADR and GDR on Sberbank shares (one receipt is equivalent to four shares) worth $520 million as of March 31. This was up from 52.35 million at the end of last September, but down from 68.74 million in the middle of 2013.
New World Fund, another member of this family, held 7.71 million receipts at the start of October 2013 and this stake has not changed since then.
Emerging Markets Growth Fund, managed by Capital International, reduced its exposure to 29.62 million shares worth $70.7 million as of March 31 from 48.65 million shares at the start of July 2013.
International Fund of American Funds Insurance Series sold 1.6 million Sberbank GDR, while keeping its holding of 8.2 million ADR unchanged.
All of these funds together held about 1.4%, or 307 million voting shares in Sberbank as of March 31, down from 328 million last October. This is the largest stake held by portfolio investors in the Russian bank.