By Andrei Skvarsky.
Bank St Petersburg, one of Russia’s biggest regional lenders, is planning to sell out to the Rossiya bank as state-controlled entities mop up privately held banks.
Rossiya is controlled by Yury Kovalchuk, a man widely reputed as Putin’s “personal banker”.
The two banks, both of which are based in St Petersburg, are in talks on the planned deal, according to Russian daily Kommersant.
“The Kovalchuk brothers are building quite a banking empire with Bank Rossiya also acquiring Gazenergoprombank, Sobinbank and Sogaz (a top-three Russian insurer),” VTB Capital analyst Dmitry Dmitriev said this week in a report, “Russian Banks: BSPB M&A Rumours: No Smoke without Fire?”
“Given their focus on the corporate business, especially in St Petersburg, where they are the fourth largest player, BSPB looks like a natural target.”
Both Kovalchuk and Bank St Petersburg’s chief executive and principal owner, Alexander Savelyev, hold stakes of more than 30% in their respective firms.
Earlier this year,VTB bought a nearly 50% stake in Bank of Moscow and took over TransCreditBank, while Sberbank is acquiring Troika Dialog for a move into investment banking.
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