VTB may close Bank of Moscow purchase in Q2
MOSCOW. Feb 2 (Interfax) - VTB may close the purchase of the city of Moscow's stake in Bank of Moscow in the second quarter of 2011, Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev told journalists.
"I believe it may be in the second quarter," Ulyukayev said.
Commenting on the city's decision to sell the stake to VTB instead of at auction, as Alfa Bank is lobbying for, Ulyukayev said: "That is the seller's decision, the decision of the city of Moscow."
"There are forms of sale that require an auction and those that don't," he said.
VTB President and CEO Andrei Kostin said previously that his bank would acquire a majority stake in Bank of Moscow no later than the first half of 2011 and would ultimately raise its stake to 100%.
Alfa Bank announced at the end of January that it was also prepared to acquire up to 100% of Bank of Moscow and called for the shares to be auctioned.
At a meeting on January 28, the Bank of Moscow board of directors approved a list of candidates for elections to the board that includes 10 candidates from VTB, including Kostin and his first deputy, Mikhail Kuzovlev.
The new board will be elected at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting scheduled for February 21. Shareholders will hold a follow-up meeting on March 4 to consider the issue of replacing the bank's president. A source in financial circles told Interfax that Kuzovlev would replace Bank of Moscow President Andrei Borodin.
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