27 Aug 2009 11:04

VTB minorities content with share price

MOSCOW. Aug 27 (Interfax) - Minority shareholders in the VTB bank are content with the placement price for new shares, Vladimir Tarachev, a member of the bank's shareholder Advisory Board, told Interfax.

Management met with members of the advisory board, which exists to liaise with minority shareholders, among other purposes, on Wednesday.

"Issues related to the determination of the share price were discussed. We concluded that the interests of minority shareholders were upheld, because the price takes the interests of shareholders and the state into consideration," Tarachev said.

"Nobody expected a premium of more than 10% against market prices anyway," he said.

This was VTB management's first meeting with the advisory board's members. Nikolai Tsekhomsky, the CFO, was among those present, as was Grigory Glazyev, an independent member of the Supervisory Board.

The VTB Supervisory Board on August 25 set the placement price for up to 90 billion rubles in new stock at 4.82 kopecks a share. Shareholders have five working days from August 26 to state whether they will subscribe and how many shares they will buy. The issue, if placed in its entirety, will bolster VTB's share capital 134% to 157.241 billion rubles.

VTB said in April that it was setting the shareholders' Advisory Board up. Minority shareholders over the age of 21 are eligible to join. The board had 10 members as of start of July.