Not advisable to enter borrowing market right after Sberbank - VTB chief
MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - VTB does not think it would be a good idea to go onto the foreign borrowing market right after the Sberbank of Russia placement, but does plan to borrow abroad this year, VTB's President and Chairman Andrei Kostin said on the sidelines of the Russia Forum 2012, organized by Sberbank and Troika Dialog .
"Perhaps it's not worth it right after Sberbank, because the investors are the same," Kostin said.
VTB already has a program registered allowing it to place Eurobonds on short notice, Kostin said.
"We have upwards of $9 billion on foreign markets. Sberbank has $5 billion, it has a larger domestic source, so of course we will be placing again," he said.
A lot of investors were scared off by the Finance Ministry's proposal that Eurobonds be taxed, Kostin said, but the situation has improved. "A certain misunderstanding with the Finance Ministry regarding, for example, taxes on bonds has been done away with," he said.
VTB's net profits in 2012 are projected at not less than what it earned last year - $3 billion, and the might even top that, Kostin said.
VTB's deputy chief Herbert Moos said recently that the bank would borrow $2.5 billion this year, corresponding to how much debt it would pay off.
On Tuesday, Sberbank placed $1.5 billion worth of Eurobonds, its chief, German Gref, told reporters on the sidelines of the forum. Earlier, a source in financial circles said that Sberbank was placing $1 billion in five-year Eurobonds at 4.95% and $500 million in ten-year bonds at 6.125%.