Official: Early to speak about UTair going under banks’ control

MOSCOW, Jan 15 (PRIME) – Speaking about a possible transfer of Russian airline UTair under control of the country’s biggest banks Sberbank and VTB Bank is premature, Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov told reporters on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Gaidar Forum.

Business daily Vedomosti reported earlier in January that Sberbank and VTB Bank could use UTair as the basis for their future joint interregional air carrier. The banks may acquire UTair by converting its large debt to Sberbank into shares, according to Vedomosti.

“So far, we do not have such a project on agenda. It is early to speak about it,” Akimov said.

In October 2018, VTB CEO Andrei Kostin said that VTB Bank and Sberbank planned to invest at least U.S. $1 billion to set up an interregional airline and that the idea belonged to Sberbank CEO German Gref.

End