VTB to consolidate almost 100% of shares in Belarusian subsidiary in 2012
MINSK. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Russia's VTB will buy the Belarusian government's stake in its subsidiary CJSC VTB Bank (Belarus) over the course of this year, thereby boosting its own stake from 71.4% to 97.3%, CEO of the Belarusian bank Vladimir Ivanov told journalists on Tuesday.
"The purchase of 25.9% of shares [the state's stake] will definitely happen this year. Specific dates for finalizing the deal will depend on the Belarusian leadership's decision," he said.
Ivanov did not disclose the cost of the deal, saying only that the value of the government stake was agreed at a level "a bit higher" than the amount that the Russian VTB shelled out in 2007 for an additional shares issue by Slavneftbank, which was later renamed VTB Bank (Belarus). That deal cost $25.443 million and granted the Russian VTB control over the Belarusian bank (50% plus one share). Therefore, the payment for the state's 25.9% stake will be comparable with half the amount put towards acquiring the controlling packet.
Later, VTB increased its stake by purchasing shares from other shareholders. It currently owns 71.4% of the Belarusian bank's shares, and the Belarusian government and the shareholders connected with it own 28.6%.
The terms of selling Slavneftbank to VTB stipulated that the Belarusian government would keep its blocking stake, since the bank was created to service oil refining and petrochemicals - one of the Belarusian economy's key sectors. Therefore, in order to consolidate the bank's shares, the Russian VTB needed consent and a formal decision from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The agreement in principle to increase VTB's stake in its Belarusian subsidiary to 100% was reached during a meeting between VTB CEO Andrei Kostin and Lukashenko in October 2011.
VTB does not intend to recapitalize its subsidiary this year, Ivanov said.
The deal with the Belarusian VTB is not directly connected with the planned sale of the Bank Moscow-Minsk (100% subsidiary of Bank of Moscow ), which is part of the VTB group, to state-owned Belinvestbank, he said.
Bank VTB's (Belarus) assets are expected to grow by about 25% this year. Its profit will roughly equal last year's profit, Ivanov said.
Last year, the Belarusian VTB's assets jumped by 2.5-fold to 6.2 trillion Belarusian rubles. Its borrowed resources grew 2.6-fold to over 5.7 trillion Belarusian rubles, its clients' funds were up 2.1-fold to 2 trillion Belarusian rubles, and its loan portfolio doubled to 3.1 trillion Belarusian rubles (including loans to corporate entities totaling 2.7 trillion Belarusian rubles, or up 2.1-fold). Its shareholder equity expanded 1.7-fold to 432.4 billion Belarusian rubles.
The bank's net profit for 2011 totaled 93.2 billion Belarusian rubles, up 2.9-fold over 2010.
The official exchange rate on February 28 was 8,110 Belarusian rubles/$1.
