VEB may become Lider shareholder
MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - Vnesheconombank (VEB) may become a shareholder in Lider, which manages Russia's largest non-governmental pension fund - Gazfond - as the result of an additional share issue.
Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has given gas giant Gazprom the go-ahead to acquire 25.71% of the voting stock in CJSC Lider, the FAS said on Monday. As of mid-2011, 75% of the stock in Lider was held by insurer SOGAZ Group (starting in the third quarter, the insurance company stopped releasing quarterly reports). SOGAZ will not be involved in the upcoming share issue.
Citing a source close to the deal, the business daily Kommersant writes that Lider is looking to raise some 4 billion from the placement of additional shares, of which Gazprom will acquire half and VEB the remainder.
The VEB supervisory board will be looking at the stock acquisition, the bank's Press Secretary Yekaterina Grishkovets told Interfax. "If it is approved, the acquisition of stock in the CJSC Lider additional issue will take place in the context of an agreement of intent concluded in December of 2011 between VEB, OJSC SOGAZ, and OJSC Gazprom. In accordance with this agreement, the parties intend to create conditions for increasing the government's influence on the realization of key projects in the energy, machine-building, transport, metallurgical, and construction sectors of the economy," she said.
This will take place at the board's next meeting, which has yet to be scheduled.
VEB is not commenting on the size of the stake it could acquire in Lider. An informed source has told Interfax that VEB will buy some 27% of the managing company.
The SOGAZ Group is controlled by the bank Rossiya, whose main beneficiaries are Yury Kovalchuk, Nikolai Shamalov, Dmitry Gorelov, Gennady Timchenko, and Alexei Mordashov. Lider is run by Russia's third largest bank by assets - Gazprombank . Gazprom holds 41.7% of the Gazprombank stock.