VTB supervisory board's decision to acquire Bank of Moscow was not unanimous - Dvorkovich
MOSCOW. Feb 15 (Interfax) - The decision of VTB's supervisory board to approve the gradual acquisition of 100% of the shares in Bank of Moscow on Monday was not unanimous. At least one board member did not support this measure.
"I voted against it," Presidential Advisor and board member Arkady Dvorkovich wrote on his Twitter following the meeting.
This was his "personal position", he wrote.
In addition to Dvorkovich, the supervisory board includes Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Ministry Alexei Kudrin and his deputy Alexei Savatyugin, as well as Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Alexei Ulyukayev. In addition to them, the board includes Andrei Kostin and four independent directors: Mikhail Eskindarov, the Rector of the Government Financial Academy, independent consultant Grigory Glazkov, Matthias Varnig, the Managing Director of Nord Stream AG, and Nikolai Kropachev, the Rector of St. Petersburg State University.
The vote's results indicate that the state representatives on the board, with the exception of Dvorkovich, support the acquisition. The Russian government has yet to say if its representatives have received a directive to vote on this move but based on the value of the planned acquisition (the Moscow Mayor's Office, which owns a controlling packet, estimates Bank of Moscow at 178 billion rubles) they probably received a directive for this vote.
Disagreements between state officials on boards of directors at state companies and banks, especially in regards to directive issues, have their place but very rarely become a matter of public discourse. Around ten years ago a similar situation developed at RAO UES Russia when then Deputy Minister Viktor Kudryavyi, an opponent of energy reform, cast votes on the holding's board, which often contradicted government directives. He paid for this with his position.
The City of Moscow directly owns 46.5% in the bank. The city also controls 4.33% through Capital Insurance Group. Immediately following Sergei Sobyanin's replacement of Yury Luzhkov as Mayor of Moscow last autumn, Kudrin said that the city would be disposing of non-profile commercial assets, including banking assets. It was reported at the end of 2010 that Moscow is ready to sell its controlling stake to VTB Bank. VTB submitted an application to Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service in February for the purchase of 100% in Bank of Moscow. The FAS approved the application.
In order to avoid violations of Russian legislation on privatization by directly selling the bank to VTB, which, according to the Moscow authorities, is the sole official party confirming its candidacy as a buyer, the city plans to inject Bank of Moscow shares into the capital of OJSC Central Fuel Company. "There are forms of sale, which require an auction and those that don't need it," Ulyukayev said.
However, there were opponents to a direct sale. For instance, in January, Alfa-Bank expressed its desire to acquire Bank of Moscow by open option and submitted an enquiry to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, which requested a tender process.
Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said last Thursday that the optimal procedure for selling Bank of Moscow would be an auction. "Bearing in mind the investment climate, transparency and procedural effectiveness, an auction would be more suitable in my view," she said.
In addition to the city of Moscow and Capital Insurance Group, the bank's President Andrei Borodin and the Deputy Chairman of its board of directors, Lev Alaluyev, own 20.3%. Goldman Sachs owns 3.9% and Credit Suisse - 2.8%.