State Duma extends permission to sell Otkritie directly to VTB for three months

MOSCOW. Dec 13 (Interfax) - The Russian State Duma has adopted a law in the third reading on extending until March 31, 2023, the timeframe for the amendment permitting the sale of the assets of FC Otkritie Bank to VTB Group without prior consent from the Federal Anti-monopoly Service (FAS) and the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), as well as without holding a tender.

State Duma deputies introduced the amendment for the second reading of the bill on regulating corporate relations.

According to the law adopted this year, the CBR is permitted to sell Otkritie's shares to VTB Bank at market value. Meantime, the CBR's decision is not subject to the procedure for selling shares acquired when preventing banks from becoming insolvent, to the provisions of laws requiring prior or subsequent consent of the CBR, as well as to the consent of the FAS.

The special conditions for selling Otkritie are currently valid until December 31, 2022, as the CBR and VTB had planned to complete the transaction prior to this date. The bill approved in the first reading had extended the provision until December 31, 2023, though the date was subsequently readjusted to March 31, 2023, as per the document.

The participants in the transaction had said that the sale of Otkritie would be completed before the end of the year. Indeed, VTB President and Board Chairman Andrei Kostin in early November said that it was only a matter of days to agree on the parameters for purchasing Otkritie. Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev just last week said that the deal would be completed by the end of 2022.

RBC, which reviewed the presentation materials of the audit/appraisal company Business Solutions and Technologies, formerly Deloitte, had said that the appraised market value of 100% of the share capital of Otkritie Group was within the range 359-386 billion rubles. However, the appraisal has been adjusted to 328-374 billion rubles, Frank Media reported last week.

VTB management expects Otkritie to function for another one to one-and-a-half years under the current brand name, after which it will likely disappear.