VEDOMOSTI. On May 19, 2008 a deal should be wrapped up to sell a portion of the mortgage portfolio of Russian Mortgage Bank (Rusipoteka) for a total of some $100 mln to Swiss-based investment bank Credit Suisse, a source close to Rusipoteka told the newspaper. Another banker knows that this week the banks are to sign an agreement on the establishment of a joint fund, to which Credit Suisse will contribute $100 mln and Rusipoteka’s owners will pay $50 mln. According to the banker, the fund will buy up Rusipoteka’s loans for the entire sum and in three years Sobinbank, which owns Rusipoteka, should buy back these loans. Both Rusipoteka and Sobinbank declined to comment and Credit Suisse’s representatives were also not available for comment.
Currently, this is no easy matter to find foreign investors for Russian mortgage loans, so this transaction is a positive for the entire market, head of Alfa-Bank’s mortgage lending division Ilya Zibarev thinks. The bank will not have to maintain the loans on its balance sheet and the investor will be able to conduct securitization in two or three years if market conditions improve, Zibarev summed up.
Investors demand an additional risk premium, board chairman at the Mortgager Credit Alliance Vladimir Talaver gives notice: last year banks raised loans at 10.5% in rubles, but now no loans are virtually offered in rubles, while rates reached the same 10.5% in foreign currencies.
