Promsvyazbank denies possible sale of Vozrozhdenie Bank

MOSCOW, Nov 10 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Promsvyazbank has denied media reports about a possible sale of subsidiary Vozrozhdenie Bank, a Promsvyazbank spokesperson told PRIME late on Thursday, when Kommersant business daily reported quoting sources that owners of Promsvyazbank Dmitry and Alexei Ananyev were considering a sale of Vozrozhdenie Bank.

“The core owners of Promsvyazbank and Vozrozhdenie Bank officially state that they are not considering a sale of Vozrozhdenie Bank, and have held no such talks. We consider any media materials about the possible sale as attempts to manipulate the market by the negative news flow,” the representative said.

“Promsvyazbank and Vozrozhdenie continue their integration processes. We will consider the issue of their strategic development in a calmer background in 2018,” the bank said citing Dmitry Ananyev.

Kommersant also reported citing sources that Promsvyazbank had started developing offers for possible buyers of Vozrozhdenie – large banks and industrial groups – last week, and a source close to the central bank told the business daily that the scenario of a possible sale of Vozrozhdenie had been coordinated with the regulator.

On October 27, Vozrozhdenie said in a statement that shareholders of Promsvyazbank and Vozrozhdenie decided to delay a merger of the two banks, and will now focus on creation of a digital bank on the basis of Vozrozhdenie.

After the decision, international rating agency Moody’s placed ratings of Vozrozhdenie on review for a possible downgrade, while agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded ratings of both Promsvyazbank and Vozrozhdenie by one notch.

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