Eurasian Development Bank shareholders negotiating proportional increase in stakes
ALMATY. Dec 9 (Interfax) - The shareholders of Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) are negotiating a proportional increase in their stakes, CEO Nikolai Podguzov said at a Friday press conference.
At the moment, Russia owns a 65.97% stake in the bank and Kazakhstan has 32.99%. The two countries are the founders of EDB. The rest of the shares belong to the participating states, including Belarus with 1%, Tajikistan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.
Bloomberg said in early August citing informed sources that Russia planned to give up its majority stake in Eurasian Development Bank in order to reduce the risk the lender will be targeted by sanctions. According to Bloomberg, Russia wanted to reduce its combined stake with Belarus to less than half of the development institution. Should this happen, Kazakhstan will become the owner of a controlling interest in the bank.
"I would not say that Kazakhstan's interest will increase. There will be a proportional increase in the stakes the participating countries own in the bank. The stakeholders are holding negotiations. Judging by the statements that have been made by the officials from Kazakhstan, the negotiations are progressing quite successfully. We hope they will be completed in a few weeks or months, and we will see a new ownership structure of the EDB. Being directly involved in this process, I can say that the negotiations are underway," Podguzov said.
He said earlier in June that Russia's interest in the bank might decrease but Russia will remain the largest shareholder of the EDB.
The EDB is an international financial organization, founded by Russia and Kazakhstan in January 2006 for the purposes of assisting the development of the market economies of its state members, as well as ensuring their stable economic growth and expanding trading operations. The states participating in the bank are: Russia and Kazakhstan as founders, as well as Armenia, Tajikistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as members. The EDB is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan.