By Marcus Williams
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has agreed to sell its 15% stake in Swedbank Russia back its parent and major stakeholder Swedbank.
The deal will give Swedbank full ownership of its Russian subsidiary and comes after a five-year investment which saw the EBRD become a minority shareholder in March 2005 in what was a corporate banking start-up known as Hansabank.
The Russian bank’s name was changed to Swedbank Russia in May 2007. The sale is conditional on by Swedbank obtaining the approval of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
Swedbank has 9,5 million retail customers and 550,000 corporate customers, with 381 branches in Sweden, 226 branches in the Baltic countries and 164 branches in Ukraine.
Swedbank was forced to release a statement early last year stating it would remain in Russia after speculation it would have to flee in the wake of the banking crisis.
