30 May 2011 | 12:08

Russia’s Sberbank outlines conditions to purchase BTA

German Gref. RIA Novosti ©

Russia’s Sberbank announced commercial conditions on which it is ready to purchase Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank. It was announced by Sberbank Chief Executive German Gref in an interview for Kommersant newspaper. “We are in talks with the Government of Kazakhstan. The deal is far from being straightforward. We have outlined commercial conditions acceptable for us to buy BTA. Should Kazakhstan accept the conditions, the deal will be closed (…) The asset requires substantial involvement of the Kazakhstan’s Government”, Mr. Gref said. Early 2011 Chairman of the National Bank Gregory Marchenko did not rule out sales of BTA through the people’s IPO in case Sberbank didn’t purchase it first. Sberbank today is the largest credit institution in Russia and CIS. For a long time Sberbank was considered the most probable candidate to purchase Kazakh Government’s stake in BTA Bank. The Government [represented by Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Fund] is expected to sell its stakes in in BTA, Temir Bank and Alliance Bank before 2014, KazTAG reported April 6. This was announced by Kairat Kelimbetov, the then Chairman. He made this announcement at the Minex Central Asia – 2011 mining forum in Astana. In 2009, as part of the government’s anti-crisis package, Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund bought common stock in the mentioned above banks.

Russia’s Sberbank announced commercial conditions on which it is ready to purchase Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank. It was announced by Sberbank Chief Executive German Gref in an interview for Kommersant newspaper. “We are in talks with the Government of Kazakhstan. The deal is far from being straightforward. We have outlined commercial conditions acceptable for us to buy BTA. Should Kazakhstan accept the conditions, the deal will be closed (…) The asset requires substantial involvement of the Kazakhstan’s Government”, Mr. Gref said. Early 2011 Chairman of the National Bank Gregory Marchenko did not rule out sales of BTA through the people’s IPO in case Sberbank didn’t purchase it first. Sberbank today is the largest credit institution in Russia and CIS. For a long time Sberbank was considered the most probable candidate to purchase Kazakh Government’s stake in BTA Bank. The Government [represented by Samruk Kazyna Sovereign Fund] is expected to sell its stakes in in BTA, Temir Bank and Alliance Bank before 2014, KazTAG reported April 6. This was announced by Kairat Kelimbetov, the then Chairman. He made this announcement at the Minex Central Asia – 2011 mining forum in Astana. In 2009, as part of the government’s anti-crisis package, Samruk-Kazyna Sovereign Wealth Fund bought common stock in the mentioned above banks.

Russia Kazakhstan BTA Bank