Pension fund Future sells 10% in Promsvyazbank prior to bailout

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (PRIME) -- Private pension fund Future, part of financial group Future of businessman Boris Mints, reduced its stake in Russia’s Promsvyazbank to 0.0000006% from 10% by selling shares on December 14, a day before the central bank announced a bailout of the bank, as seen by PRIME in materials of the bank on Monday.

On December 22, the central bank said it was preparing documents for the police on operations Promsvyazbank management that had signs of illegal activity. Central Bank Deputy Chairman Vasily Pozdyshev said one of the operations was the sale of Promsvyazbank shares on December 14 by a company that manages funds of several pension funds.

Under the scheme, the pension fund placed 7-day deposits with Promsvyazbank on December 14. On the same day the bank transferred an equivalent sum to an account of Promsvyaz Capital B.V., through which the Ananyev brothers controlled the bank. Promsvyaz Capital B.V. paid a similar amount to the pension funds for the shares of the bank. The deals were done through the exchange in order to cover the manipulation, Pozdyshev said then.

According to the Moscow Exchange, trading in Promsvyazbank shares amounted to 16.5 billion rubles in the last hour of trade on December 14 compared with an average daily trading of about 2 billion rubles. The volume of 16.5 billion rubles accounts for about 20% of the bank’s capitalization.

On December 15, representatives of Credit Bank of Moscow and Bank Saint Petersburg told PRIME that the two banks withdrew from ownership of over 8.58% and 1.92% shares in Promsvyazbank, respectively, after returning the shares that Promsvyazbank pledged as collateral under repo deals.

(58.3152 rubles – U.S. $1)

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