VTB mulls sale of Bank of Moscow subsidiary in Belarus
MINSK. Oct 12 (Interfax) - VTB Group is considering the sale of Bank of Moscow subsidiary Moscow-Minsk Bank in Belarus, VTB (Belarus) Chairman Vladimir Ivanov told Interfax.
"According to the information I have, the sale of Moscow-Minsk could well go ahead. Steps are being taken toward this," Ivanov said.
"A buyer is being searched for and the price is being considered," he said.
Ivanov spoke about the "rather high price" of the asset and said "if the buyer rejects it, the next stage would be integration with VTB (Belarus)."
What happens to Moscow-Minsk Bank will be determined by the recapitalization of VTB (Belarus) itself, which is planned for next year, Ivanov said. Because of this, Ivanov does not think it likely that Belarusian government shareholders, who own almost 26% of shares, will participate in an additional share issue. "The government's position is not clear yet, but I doubt that Belarusian shareholders can contribute their share," Ivanov said.
The terms for the sale of Belarusian Slavneftebank (renamed VTB (Belarus) in November 2007) to VTB Group envisaged the government keeping their blocking stake, as the bank was established to serve the petroleum products and petrochemicals industry - one of the key industries in Belarus.
VTB Chairman Andrei Kostin will discuss further development of VTB (Belarus) with the Belarusian government before the end of 2011, Ivanov said. "If integration [with Moscow-Minsk] is not going to happen, there will be an additional share issue," he added.
VTB (Belarus), formerly Slavneftebank, was established in October 1996. VTB acquired an additional issue of Slavneftebank shares for $25.44 million in April 2007 bringing its stake to 50% plus one share. VTB continued to increase its stake throughout the year buying out other shareholders. VTB now owns 71.4% in the renamed VTB (Belarus) bank. The Belarusian government and shareholders associated with it own 28.6% (including as 16.3% stake held by Belarusian petrochemicals company Belneftekhim).
VTB (Belarus) had assets of 4.4 trillion Belarusian rubles (5758 Bel. rubles /$1 on October 11) on July 1. It was rated eighth for assets among 31 Belarusian banks.
Moscow-Minsk Bank was established by the Bank of Moscow and registered in April 2000. Assets on July 1 stood at 2.95 trillion Bel. rubles. The bank was ranked ninth for assets in Belarus.
VTB consolidated had 80.5% of Bank of Moscow by the end of September 2011.
VTB (Belarus) was ranked number 165 by assets in the Interfax-1000 review of CIS banks for 2010. Moscow-Minsk Bank was ranked number 194. The review is compiled by the Interfax Center for Economic Analysis.