Russia has taken the plunge to sell a $5bn stake in Sberbank amid a surge
RUSSIA pulled the trigger on the sale of a $5 billion (R41bn) stake in Sberbank yesterday, taking advantage of strong markets to cut the state’s ownership in Europe’s thirdbiggest bank to a bare majority.
The sale of a 7.6 percent stake in Sberbank has been held back for more than a year by shaky financial markets, but last week’s announcement of a new round of credit easing by the US Federal Reserve opened the window to a placement.
Russian stocks rallied by 8 percent last Friday after the news from the US central bank, propelling Sberbank shares to their highest close since April and putting the state in a position to sell into market strength.
“This was the best day of the past 15 months to take the decision to go to the market,” chief executive German Gref said in an interview.
Gref said that he hoped asset managers in China, Singapore and Hong Kong, among others, would be interested in the offering, which would take place over three days.
The accelerated sale will help clear a stock overhang that has held back the share performance of the former Soviet state savings bank, and capped Russian stock valuations at a 50 percent discount to other emerging markets.
It will boost the tradeability of Russia’s most liquid blue chip stock, widely viewed by investors as a proxy for the ninth-largest economy, which grew at a rate of over 4 percent in the first half of the year.
Sberbank said that it would price the sale of 1.7 billion shares at between 91 roubles (R24.45) apiece and the market price at the time of closing the books for the sale. The minimum price represents a discount of 6 percent to Friday’s closing price of 97.05 roubles.
Although the bank’s stock fell by up to 2 percent early yesterday, the relatively tight pricing buoyed market confidence that the deal would be strongly supported by investors. The sale would take place in Moscow and London, the bank said. – Reuters