VTB won't need add'l share issue in 2011 to buy Bank of Moscow, TCB - Moos
MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax) - VTB will not be required to issue additional shares this year to purchase Bank of Moscow and TransCreditBank (TCB) , the bank's deputy CEO Herbert Moos said during a conference call.
"VTB currently has sufficient capital to buy both of those players," Moos said, referring to the planned purchase of TCB and Bank of Moscow.
Moreover, VTB expects to post record profits over more than 50 billion rubles. "Naturally, a large part of that profit will be recapitalized. That will enable the bank to meet all Central Bank statutes even after the merger," he said.
The VTB supervisory board approved acquisition of 100% of TCB, which focuses on serving Russia' rail sector, in the fall of 2010. VTB boosted its stake in TCB to 41.74% by the end of 2010. VTB planned to raise its stake to just over controlling this year, including purchase of 10% directly from Russian Railways (RZD) . However, in January it began discussing acquisition of a 30% stake. In February RZD said it expects to agree on sale of a 30% TCB stake to VTB in 2011.
VTB also plans to acquire a majority stake in Bank of Moscow, in the first half of 2011, according to VTB chief Andrei Kostin. It will ultimately raise the stake to 100%.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has cleared VTB to acquire 100% of shares in Bank of Moscow.
Bank of Moscow President Andrei Borodin and deputy board chairman Lev Alaluev own a combined 20.3% of shares and the companies in the Capital Insurance Group have 17.1%. Goldman Sachs has 3.9% and Credit Suisse - 2.8%.
VTB was the second biggest Russian bank by assets according to the Interfax-100 list as of the end of 2010. Bank of Moscow was in fifth place and TCB was 13th.
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