Belarusbank says IPO, Eurobond plans back on
MINSK. June 10 (Interfax) - Belarusbank is resuming preparations for a Eurobond placement and IPO in London.
"Agreement has been reached to resume relations with the London Stock Exchange. Belarusbank gave a presentation back in 2007 and started preparations for an IPO and bond placement. But the global financial crisis of 2008-2010, then the local currency crisis of 2011 forced us to put those plans on hold. Negotiations resulted in the sides expressing their readiness to resume work on the placement of Belarusbank securities," the No. 1 Belarusian bank said.
A Belarusbank delegation, led by the bank's CEO, Sergey Pisarik, visited London on May 23-26.
Belarusbank also said it held cooperation talks with Bank of Intesa Sanpaolo.
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 (8,690 Bel. rubles/$1 on June 10).
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.