CEO says VTB to mull purchase of Bank Vozrozhdenie, shares jump

DAVOS/MOSCOW, Jan 24 (PRIME) -- Russia’s second largest bank VTB will study the purchase of Bank Vozrozhdenie, VTB CEO Andrei Kostin told reporters on Wednesday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos pushing the stock nearly 13% higher.

“We don’t know so far (whether the acquisition is interesting for VTB). Our retail (managers) say that it may be interesting, but we know little of the situation in Vozrozhdenie, we have not looked at the bank and have not analyzed it yet,” he said.

According to earlier media reports, the central bank had requested that the Ananyev brothers, ex-beneficiary owners of Promsvyazbank that is undergoing a bailout, sell a controlling stake in Vozrozhdenie Bank by the middle of February.

“We don’t know whether there are any contenders. We will start working on this topic after we have returned from Davos,” Kostin said.

Following the statement, common shares of Vozrozhdenie jumped 12.6% to 570 rubles per paper on the Moscow Exchange, while preferred shares rose 11.78% to 213.5 rubles. As of 10.49 Moscow time, the shares grew 5.83% to 535.5 rubles and 4.71 to 200 rubles, respectively, according to the bourse.

(56.4115 rubles – U.S. $1)

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