Russia’s Absolut Bank denies merger talks with Vozrozhdenie Bank

MOSCOW, Oct 28 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Absolut Bank and Promsvyazcapital B.V., a majority shareholder of Russia’s Promsvyazbank and a shareholder of Vozrozhdenie Bank, denied information that they are negotiating a merger of Vozrozhdenie Bank with Absolut Bank, representatives of Absolut Bank and Promsvyazcapital B.V. told PRIME on Wednesday.

“Negotiations on a merger between Absolut Bank with Vozrozhdenie Bank are not held with us, we are not considering a merger of the banks, and we are not examining opportunities to sell the bank,” Yury Novozhilov, head of the board of directors of Absolut Bank said.

A representative of Promsvyazcapital B.V. said: “Promsvyazcapital confirms that information about negotiations to purchase Absolut Bank is unreliable.”

On Tuesday, some media reported that the Ananyev brothers, owners of Promsvyazcapital B.V., are in talks to merge Absolut Bank and Vozrozhdenie Bank.

In September, Promsvyazcapital B.V. bought a stake in Vozrozhdenie Bank from the latter’s core owner Tatyana Orlova and received operating control over the bank.

Promsvyazcapital B.V. still plans consolidation of a controlling stake in Vozrozhdenie Bank and is waiting for a central bank permission for the deal, a representative of the investment company said.

Further strategy of Vozrozhdenie Bank, including merges and takeovers, will be discussed after re-election of its board of directors in late November, the spokesperson said.

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