KOMMERSANT. Investment bank Renaissance Capital and Bank of Cyprus Public Company Limited have signed an agreement on the acquisition of a 100% stake in LidBank. As the investment bank noted, the lender will be a hub for new business that will be established and overseen by director of Renaissance Capital’s debt obligations, currency and commodity markets division Yury Gruzglin, Kommersant business daily wrote Thursday.
For the record, Bank of Cyprus registered a Russian subsidiary in April 2007. In summer 2008 Bank of Cyprus acquired 80% of Uniastrum Bank. In June 2009 Uniastrum Bank assigned Rub 2.2 bln of corporate credits, Bank of Cyprus’ primary asset, to its balance sheet. In August a decision was adopted to divest Bank of Cyprus and hold a tender to sel ect a buyer. In early 2010 Bank of Cyprus was renamed in LidBank.
The parties do not disclose the transaction price. However, last fall when Bank of Cyprus decided to divest the asset the newspaper’s sources said that the bank’s shareholders planned to receive from new owners compensation for the lender’s charter capital (Rub 250 mln as of December 31, 2009) plus $6—7 mln (Rub 190—220 mln) as a premium for the brand. Renaissance Capital points out that it used not borrowings, but owned funds to wrap up the deal and Onexim Group provided no additional funds for the transaction. However, Renaissance Capital does not rule out upsizing the bank’s capital if such necessity arises.
