KOMMERSANT. Financial group Safmar (that's how B&N Group is called now), which is owned by Mikhail Gutseriev and Mikail Shishkhanov, is exploring the possibility of buying Vnesheconombank's two subsidiaries, Svyaz-Bank and Bank Globex. VEB plans to sell both banks as a single lot, Kommersant wrote quoting several sources familiar with the matter.
The newspaper got confirmation that the group is interested in the deal from as many as four not interconnected sources, including those close both to VEB and those controlled by Mikail Shishkhanov, specifying that right now it is premature to talk about the deal and all arrangements are at the preliminary stage. Shishkhanov himself denied this information. "We have not received any offer from VEB with regard to these banks, nor have we ever expressed interest in these banks. No negotiations are under way," Shishkhanov said through his press service.
However, official denials of upcoming deals or related negotiations are not rate among Russian businessmen, especially if a potential transaction is at the very early stage or requires approval of the regulator, the paper noted.
Meanwhile, based on the newspaper's information, VEB and the regulator made an arrangement in principle on the sale. VEB has already begun pre-sales preparation of the subsidiary banks, said a source close to the state-run corporation's supervisory board. According to the paper's data, VEB has already conducted due diligence of its banking subsidiaries, and is going to open data room for potential buyers to examine data required to make a decision on a possible deal. Those investors that will remain satisfied by the results will be introduced to the corporation's supervisory board, the paper's source close to VEB specified. The same source said that under the plan the buyer of the corporation's subsidiaries should be defined until end of year, adding that "VEB is now busy refreshing the make-up of Bank Globex and Svyaz-Bank via capital injections, piling up provisions and streamlining their networks".
"Shishkhanov's entities are not the only potentially possible buyer," one of the paper's interviewees specified. According to him, other buyers may include companies that are controlled by the brothers, Dmitry and Alexey Ananievs (Promsvyazcapital, in particular). As a matter of fact, according to them, Safmar is more interested and stands a better chance to strike a deal.
