Belarusbank IPO possible in 2014 - National Bank CEO
MINSK. June 19 (Interfax) - Belarusbank, the biggest bank in Belarus, could carry out an IPO in 2014 under favorable conditions, National Bank of Belarus Chairman Nadezhda Yermakova said.
"Perhaps next year, we hope," she told the press in Minsk Wednesday, commenting on when there might be a Belarusbank IPO.
Yermakova stressed the importance of this project for the country as a whole. "This is necessary not just for Belarusbank but for the entire country," she said, adding that "they [Belarusbank management] are acting normally."
The National Bank chief also said that there will be a preliminary valuation carried out on Belarusbank soon. "We will evaluate the market value of Belarusbank. The bank will be very expensive - tens of billions of dollars. This is the same kind of asset for the country as the gold and foreign currency reserves," she said.
She confirmed that investors would be offered a minority stake in Belarusbank and the government plans to hold on to the controlling stake. "The government will maintain control over the biggest government banks - that is normal."
A Belarusbank manager told Interfax that a final decision on the IPO would be made at the end of the year. "Possibly a final decision about carrying out the IPO will be taken at the end of this year. We are carrying out preparations and technically the bank is ready for this step," he said. However, "we will take the situation on the market into account first and foremost, we should not act just for the placement as this project will be a guideline for other Belarusian companies," he said.
Belarusbank said at the end of 2007 that it planned to hold an IPO in 2009-2010 and then bring a strategic investor in. It also planned to offer $200 million in Eurobonds in 2008. The bank later said it planned to offer up to $500 million in Eurobonds, but its plans did not come to fruition.
Belarusbank is the biggest of 32 banks in Belarus. Its assets to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) grew 8% to 115.8 trillion Belarusian rubles in 2012, and liabilities rose 8.4% to 98.34 trillion rubles (8,670 Bel. rubles/$1 on June 19).
The bank swung to net profit of 2.21 trillion rubles ($258 million at the year-end exchange rate) to IFRS in 2012, from 3.1 trillion rubles loss in 2011.
Belarusbank was established in July 1991 and then reformed in October 1995 through a merger with Sberbank BSSR. Belarusbank is government owned and is the biggest of 32 Belarusian banks.
Belarusbank had charter capital (adjusted for hyperinflation) of 18.59 trillion Belarusian rubles on December 31 2012, which was unchanged for the year.
