UPDATE2: Sberbank to sell Ukrainian branch to Latvia’s Norvik Banka

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MOSCOW, Mar 28 (PRIME) -- Russia’s top bank Sberbank will sell 100% in its Ukrainian affiliate to a consortium comprising Latvia’s Norvik Banka and a private Belarusian company until the end of June, Sberbank said in a statement late on Monday without disclosing the sum of the deal.

The bank and the consortium signed a legally binding document on Monday to close the deal after approval of financial and antimonopoly regulators of corresponding jurisdictions, including Ukraine and Latvia, the bank said.

The sped-up sale will lead lesser contributions to the affiliate’s capital, which will be reflected in Sberbank’s financial report calculated under Russian Accounting Standards, but the impact of the deal on financial results calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards will be insignificant. The bank also hopes that the sale will remove Ukrainian nationalists who block the affiliate’s offices, Sberbank said.

Norvik Banka said separately that Said Gutseriyev, a son of Russian tycoon Mikhail Gutseriyev, became the major shareholder of the consortium.

Sergei Klyuchenkov, head of the information policy and strategic communications department of financial group Safmar that manages assets of the Gutseriyev–Shishkhanov family, said that Safmar and B&N bank have nothing to do with the purchase of the Ukrainian unit of Sberbank and it is private investment of Said Gutseriyev.

Norvik Banka believes that Sberbank’s developed network in Ukraine and professionalism of its staff will become a reliable basis for long-term development initiatives. The bank also thinks that the Ukrainian economy has passed the lowest point of its crisis, and believes in the future economic growth in the country, the bank said citing Board Chairman Oliver Bramwell.

Norvik Banka had planned measures aimed at decreasing its presence in Russia, the bank said. The bank’s local affiliate was ranked Russia’s 183rd largest bank by assets as of February 1.

According to Norvik Banka, the affiliate of Sberbank is Ukraine’s sixth largest bank by assets. It has more than 150 branches in the country with almost 1 million clients.

Radical representatives of the National Corpus party of the Azov group said that they intend to stop blocking offices of Russian banks in Ukraine so that Ukrainians could withdraw their deposits, and promised to organize a tougher blockage of all Sberbank’s offices later.

Sberbank earlier suspended operations at several units in different regions of Ukraine due to violent protests by nationalists. According to Ukrainian media, the Vinnitsa unit of Sberbank was blocked and smeared with paint on March 24. Earlier some Kiev and Ternopol-based offices were blocked with concrete bricks. The bank also saw numerous vandalism acts against its ATMs.

The nationalists require that the national bank of Ukraine should revoke licenses from Russian banks operating in the country and nationalize their assets.

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