Russia’s Finance Ministry announced that it would purchase the central bank’s stake in Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, RIA Novosti reports.
The ministry said it would buy the central bank’s 50%-plus-one-share stake in Sberbank for a “market price”. That stake is worth about 2.8 trillion rubles ($44 billion).
Former Russian Prime Minister Olga Golodets was appointed deputy CEO of Sberbank.
Sberbank CEO and Chairman of the Management Board German Gref noted that this appointment is yet to be approved by the Bank of Russia.
Two sources close to the deal told Reuters that Sberbank’s stake is estimated to cost around 2.45 trillion rubles ($39 billion), below the market value of 2.8 trillion rubles based on Refinitiv Eikon data on Tuesday.
Siluanov said the Sberbank deal will be financed from NWF funds exceeding the 7%-to-GDP threshold, and the move would not prevent plans to invest NWF money in infrastructure projects.
Putin’s fresh social spending comes atop of the 25.7 trillion rubles that he ordered in 2018 to be spent on 13 policy areas, known as “National Projects”, that included demography. The NWF is a key part of that process, too.
The central bank plans to keep around 700 billion rubles ($11.1 billion) from the deal, it said on Tuesday, which the sources said would be used to partially cover for losses from three private banking group bailouts in 2017.
The rest, or 1.25 trillion rubles ($19.8 billion), is to be returned back to the state budget, in line with the existing law, the sources said.
The rest, or 1.25 trillion roubles, is to be returned back to the state budget, in line with the existing law, the sources said.
