BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
26/02/2008
Belarusbank makes request with govt for sale of 15% stake
MINSK. Feb. 26. (Interfax) - OJSC Belarusbank, a major Belarusian commercial bank, has made a request with the Belarusian government to review a proposal for the sale of a 15% stake in the bank to a foreign investor, Belarusbank told Interfax.
"The proposal is directed a raising Belarusbank's capitalization and supporting its resource potential in order to perform major loan operations," a bank spokesperson said.
In November 2007, Belarusbank managing board chairperson, Nadezhda Yermakova, was the first to make a public announcement regards the possibility of selling at least a 10% minority packet. She said that such a share sale would not reduce the bank's manageability and would, instead, increase its capitalization, which is especially relevant for maintaining high economic growth in Belarus.
Yermakova said that the bank had received purchase offers from three investment banks and that tender would select the final investor. Among the investors interested in Belarusbank are Nomura, RBS, ABN Amro, Credit Suisse and BNP Paribas.
Yermakova said that the approximate market value of a 10% stake in Belarusbank exceeds its balance sheet value by five to 10 times and, therefore, would come to between $500 million and $1 billion.
Belarusbank has already set to work on an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), which is slated for 2010.
Belarusbank was 23rd largest bank in the CIS by assets as of the end of first half of 2007 in the Interfax-1000 and first among the 27 Belarusian banks currently in operation.
Belarusbank was formed in July 1991 and merged with Sberbank BSSR in 1995. The Belarusian state's stake in the bank is over 99%.
As of February 1, 2008, Belarusbank's gross assets came to 17.3 million Belarusian rubles (2,147 Belarusian rubles/$1 on February 26, 2008), which accounted for around 40% of total assets in the Belarusian banking system. More than 60% of Belarusian household deposits are concentrated in Belarusbank. The bank's equity comes to 2.1717 trillion Belarusian rubles, of which 1.6388 trillion Belarusian rubles account for Belarusbank's charter capital.
Source:
http://www.interfax.com/3/368570/news.aspx
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