PRESS: Cbank wants Ananyev brothers to sell Vozrozhdenie soon

MOSCOW, Jan 19 (PRIME) -- Russia’s central bank has required that the Ananyev brothers, ex-beneficiary owners of troubled Promsvyazbank that is currently being bailed out, should sell a controlling stake in Vozrozhdenie Bank by the middle of February, Kommersant business daily reported Friday citing sources.

Vozrozhdenie Bank is included in Promsvyazbank group. The central bank announced a decision to bail out Promsvyazbank in December.

On Tuesday, Otar Marganiya, chairman of Vozrozhdenie Bank’s board of directors, met with the central bank’s First Deputy Chairman Dmitry Tulin and Deputy Chairwoman Olga Polyakova to discuss the future of the bank. “It was clearly indicated at the meeting that the Ananyev brothers should withdraw from the bank’s shareholders structure no later than the middle of February and the central bank will monitor that this was not a formal transaction,” a source familiar with the results of the meeting said.

The central bank required an immediate sale of Vozrozhdenie Bank shortly after a decision to transfer Promsvyazbank to the Banking Sector Consolidation Fund in mid-December, Kommersant said.

In the second half of 2017, the Ananyev brothers discussed selling the stake in Vozrozhdenie Bank to Marganiya, who held a blocking stake in the bank until 2015 and sold it to the brothers, but the central bank did not approve the sale.

A possible sale of Vozrozhdenie Bank was also discussed with Alfa-Bank, Sovcombank, UralSib, and VTB. The bank will be now most likely transferred to the central bank’s interim administration, Kommersant said.

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