VTB to buy shares from market for options program; buyback program not affected
ST. PETERSBURG. June 20 (Interfax) - VTB will purchase shares for the management stock options program from the market, while the 0.8% of shares it has purchased under the buyback will be used for different purposes, Deputy CEO Herbert Moos told Interfax on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
"This will have nothing at all to do with the [buyback] program. Shares [for the options program] will be purchased separately from the market," he said.
VTB's supervisory board will take up the options program issue following the AGM on June 28.
"We don't believe it would be entirely correct to approve it in its current form. It is important that the new supervisory board understands and supports us. We will sit down to work with them and perhaps we will approve it this year," he said.
The supervisory board will have to decide how many ordinary shares to devote to the program and the number of employees that may participate.
VTB chief Andrei Kostin had previously said the bank might use the 0.8% of shares the bank bought back from buyers in the "people's IPO." Kostin said there were a number of technical difficulties with enacting the options program, including a host of tax and legal issues.
The VTB Group has already made a first step toward introduction of the options program, by introducing it at its investment subsidiary, VTB Capital. For the first time, the investment bank paid a portion of its management bonuses for 2011 in stock and GDR in the parent company. The group awarded employees 19.6 million ordinary shares and 7.1 million GDR, costing 1.4 billion rubles and $30 million respectively.