VTB in Metalloinvest for 2-3 yrs, waiting for IPO - Kostin
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) - VTB intends to be a shareholder in iron ore and steel producer Metalloinvest for two or three years, the bank's chairman, Andrei Kostin, told reporters.
"We consider [the purchase of 20% of Metalloinvest] to be a good investment. We think the company might hold an IPO within two years," he said.
The seller, Vasily Anisimov, could use some of his proceeds pay off debt to VTB, and the loan of $1.9 billion would be closed, he said.
The Vedomosti newspaper on Friday quoted a source as saying VTB would close the purchase of 20% of Metalloinvest from Anisimov's Coalco Metals in Q1 2012 as repayment of Coalco's debt to the bank topping $1.5 billion.
Coalco took out the loan during the crisis of 2008 on collateral of 10% of Metalloinvest's shares. The stake is still under pledge.
On Wednesday, Deutsche Bank held a tender to sell Anisimov's 20% stake in the iron-ore holding, Vedomosti said. Originally, around 20 participants submitted applications for the tender, including international contenders, one of Vedomosti's sources said.
VTB won the tender, and on Thursday it signed the sale agreement with Coalco, the source said.
It became known that Anisimov was studying the possibility of selling his stake in Metalloinvest in the fall of 2010. At the end of March 2011, unofficial information emerged that Sberbank might buy his stake for $2.5 billion. After such a deal, Anisimov could have repaid VTB's $1.8-billion loan and free up half of his stake (10%) that was put up for collateral, sources said. These same shares could then have been sold to Metalloinvest's main beneficiary, Alisher Usmanov. However, in spring of 2011, Usmanov said that he was not interested in purchasing the stake. Back in the fall of 2010, it was reported that Usmanov was personally looking for a buyer, although neither he nor the holding's third shareholder intended to buy Anisimov's stake.
The Metalloinvest holding includes Mikhailovsky GOK, Lebedinsky GOK, Oskol Electro-metallurgical Works (OEMK) and Ural Steel. The main beneficiaries in the holding are Usmanov with around 50%, Anisimov (20%) the father of State Deputy Andrei Skoch, Vladimir Skoch (30%), and Farhad Moshiri (5%).