RIA NOVOSTI. International Finance Corporation (IFC), an investment arm of the World Bank, could become a minority shareholder of merged Bank Otkritie by the end of this year, Bank Otkritie management board chairman Vasily Zablotsky told RIA Novosti.
Bank Otkritie, Otkritie Investment Bank and Bank Petrovsky, based in Saint Petersburg, are expected to merge by October 1, while Bank Gubernsky, headquartered in Ekaterinburg, will be taken over in 2011. Bank Otkritie will become a Top 30 lender in Russia after the merger.
IFC could inject over $100 mln into the merged bank’s charter capital, Zablotsky specified. “IFC will buy into the bank after the merger process is complete…We hope this will be finalized by October 1, 2010. Later a number of procedures related to the purchase of a stake in the bank’s capital will follow. The corporation, as we anticipate, will finalize the acquisition by the end of 2010," he said adding IFC’s holding will not exceed 25%.
It’s still not possible to specify the corporation’s accurate stake in the merged lender, as it will be determined based on the amount to be invested, up to $100 mln, and the merged bank’s valuation.
