Societe Generale, a controlling shareholder in Rosbank, has no plans to raise its holding in the mid-sized Russian lender now and would welcome other buyers for a stake that is up for sale, a top executive said. Russian bank VTB wants to sell a stake in Rosbank and has held talks with SocGen, a source quoted VTB's chief executive officer Andrei Kostin as saying back in December.
"VTB made it clear that they do not intend to be a long-term strategic shareholder. SocGen ... will be open to helping them find a solution," Marc-Emmanuel Vives, first deputy chairman of the management board at Rosbank, told journalists this week on the sidelines of an industry conference. Vives said SocGen was not thinking about buying VTB's stake right now and could welcome a new shareholder.
"There could be any other shareholder of this stake ... We don't intend to buy all the shares in Rosbank," he said. Vives, who has worked for Societe Generale more than 20 years, co-ordinates SocGen's operations in Russia. VTB Capital, the investment banking arm of Russia's second biggest lender, bought a 19.3 percent stake in Rosbank last year from tycoon Vladimir Potanin as a financial investment to benefit from growth prospects in the sector.
The stake was reduced to approximately 11 percent after a share issue, leaving SocGen with around 75 percent and Potanin's investment vehicle Interros with 11 percent in Rosbank, a top-15 Russian lender in terms of assets. SocGen does not plan any new purchases in Russia. "We are fine with current business and don't have any need for the new deals. We are betting on the improving of our products," Vives said. SocGen aims for a retail lending market share above 10 percent, Vives added.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.