Barclays considers selling Russian banks to Renaissance

By Ivan Anderzahnov

UK bank Barclays may offload its Russian regional retail banking network to a unit of Renaissance Group.

Barclays is in talks about selling 12 regional branches to Renaissance Credit, the consumer finance arm of the investment banking group Renaissance, according to Russian daily Kommersant.

The British giant acquired Russian lender Expobank in March 2008 for a hefty $745m just before the global meltdown hit the fan. Analysts said at the time that the price tag was at four times Expobank’s net asset value.

The twelve branches under the hammer may go for a song compared to the whack Barclays paid.  Kommersant speculated up to $4m for the job lot.

Barclays, whose retail network is under the helm of  ex-VTB finance houncho Nikolai Tsekhomsky, wants to concentrate on building up traction in Moscow and St Petersburg.

On the investment banking side, the group’s London-based team continues to do tidy business in debt capital markets but the much mooted hiring in equity brokering has yet to happen. Visitors to Barclays Capital’s note its sparking new office space and the tumbleweed which swirls amongst the terminal space.

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