The National Bank TRUST (NB TRUST), a retail bank in Russia, has reportedly decided to divest its 9% stake in the state-owned lender VTB.
NB TRUST currently holds the residual non-performing assets (NPA) from three private banking groups that were bailed out by the state, Reuters reported citing financial market sources.
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This includes VTB Bank’s shares, which were originally a part of a range of non-core assets of the public joint-stock company Bank Otkritie Financial Corporation.
Okritie was the first bank to be bailed out. Both NB TRUST and Otkritie is controlled by the Central Bank of Russia.
NB TRUST acquired VTB Bank’s shares as part of its anti-bankruptcy plan last year in November.
The central bank left the performing assets with Otkritie and acquired the NPAs through TRUST.
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By GlobalDataThe current market value of the stake sale is RUB43bn ($564m), the report added citing Refinitiv Eikon data.
Two financial market sources reported that NB TRUST is currently choosing banks to arrange a deal to sell its stake in VTB.
The list of banks is yet to be finalised, however VTB Capital, Citi and JP Morgan are expected to arrange the sale, another source said.
VTB Capital is the investment banking arm of VTB.
The company said that “if Trust makes a decision to sell the VTB stake, VTB Capital would be ready to take part in the deal.”
On the other hand, two other sources told Reuters that the sale will take place in the form of an accelerated book-building, which helps prevent sharp fluctuations in the share price.
This divestment is a part of the central bank’s efforts to recover the funds spent on the bailouts since 2017.
The regulator has spent over RUB2trn on bailouts so far. It is now scrutinised for being both the regulator and owner of the rescued banks.
Now, it plans to offload all or parts of Otkritie by launching an initial public offering (IPO) or direct sale next year.
The watchdog has already started looking for potential investors. After the asset recovery process is complete, TRUST will be dismantled, Reuters said.
