Asian-Pacific Bank directors approve sale of Petropavlovsk shares

MOSCOW, Mar 5 (PRIME) -- The board of directors of Asian-Pacific Bank has approved the sale of a 9.11% stake in U.K.-registered Petropavlovsk Plc, which mines gold in Russia, as seen by PRIME in materials of the bank late on March 2.

In December 2017, companies controlled by tycoon Viktor Vekselberg have sold a combined stake of 22.3% in Petropavlovsk and 2020 bonds that may be converted into a 6.83% stake in the company to Cyprus-based Fincraft Holdings, affiliated with Kazakh tycoon Kenes Rakishev.

In July 2017, co-founder of Petropavlovsk Pavel Maslovsky resigned from his positions of the CEO and a member of the board of directors. Previously, Maslovsky’s partner Peter Hambro was forced to leave the company’s board of directors after a long-time dispute with Vekselberg who wanted to merge Petropavlovsk with his own gold assets located at the Kamchatka Peninsula. Later Vekselberg rejected the idea and sold his shares in the gold producer.

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