UPDATE: CEO: Sberbank gets favorable offer to sell Denizbank

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MOSCOW, Feb 13 (PRIME) -- Russian national top lender Sberbank has received a favorable offer to sell its Turkish subsidiary Denizbank, whose work is complicated by sanctions, but hasn’t yet formed a position on the issue, CEO German Gref told reporters on Tuesday.

“We do not have a final opinion yet, because we have just started preliminary work on this issue because it is becoming difficult for us to work on the market,” Gref said.

“Being under the sanctions, it is difficult for us to show a stable result.”

He said that competition on international markets is tough.

Denizbank demonstrates very good results, and Sberbank estimates prospects of the Turkish market positively, Gref said. “But we’ve received a very good offer and entered negotiations,” he said.

In late January, Sberbank confirmed holding talks with Dubai’s Emirates NBD to sell Denizbank.

Sberbank’s foreign subsidiaries received a combined net profit of 40 billion rubles in 2017, Gref also said.

The bank has a presence in 22 countries, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Switzerland, and some countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Separately, Gref said that Sberbank will decide on dynamics of its loan and deposit rates next week.

(58.0171 rubles – U.S. $1)

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