Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have reached a deal to offload their stakes in Alfa-Bank, the country’s biggest privately owned lender, as they seek to ease European sanctions.
(Bloomberg) — Russian billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven have reached a deal to offload their stakes in Alfa-Bank, the country’s biggest privately owned lender, as they seek to ease European sanctions.
Under the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval, the two would sell their stakes to longtime partner Andrei Kosogov, who hasn’t been sanctioned, for 178 billion rubles ($2.3 billion), according to people familiar with the situation. It wasn’t immediately clear where Kosogov, a lower-profile executive who had the smallest stake in the bank before the other partners were sanctioned amid the war, would get the money.
Alfa-Bank said in a statement the deal is in the works. “Neither Andrei Kosogov nor the seller are under sanctions, so there is a chance that foreign regulatory approval won’t be needed,” the bank’s press service said.
Kosogov confirmed the deal to the Financial Times, which first reported the news late Thursday.
Fridman and Aven, both of whom now live in Europe, hope the deal may help separate them from their Russian assets and open the way to easing sanctions, according to the people. The two are subject to EU and UK restrictions. The US, UK and EU have also sanctioned Alfa-Bank.
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Under the proposed pact, Fridman and Aven will sell their combined 45% stake in the bank, which is held through a Luxembourg holding company, which in turn controls the bank’s Cyprus-based parent.
(Updates with Alfa-Bank statement in third paragraph)
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