Winter Sale at Sberbank
// Sales applications being taken at 23 percent under market price
Sberbank officially announced yesterday that it is accepting applications for purchases of its addition stock issue. Bank president Andrey Kazmin said that applications for 68,000 rubles per share or higher will be considered, that is, 23 percent below the current market price (average weighted price for the past year) of 92,400 rubles. Analysts say that this step is meant to guarantee the complete placement of the new stock issue. Share prices fell by 5 percent during the day.
Kazmin said that the “given decision is intended to reduce labor delays in the collection of applications,” adding that the actual price of a share will be determined “on a competitive basis.” Deputy chairman of the bank Bella Zlatkis said that the bank's supervisory council will determine the price of the shares between February 20 and 22 based on the applications received, and the stock placement itself would take place by March 29.
In banking circles, they say that Sberbank was forced to lower the minimum price for the application. The National Banking Council has decided that the Central Bank, the main shareholder in Sberbank, would buy only 25.5 percent of the new issue, which cast doubt over the possibility of placing all 3.5 million shares. Other recent state decisions, such as the removal of limitations on foreign investors in bank capital and allowing banks to acquire up to 1 percent of the shares in other credit organizations, are also aimed at expanding the number of potential investors.
During its upcoming stock issue, Sberbank plans to place up to 3.5 million ordinary shares with a face value of 3000 rubles. As a result, the bank's authorized capital will rise from 60 billion rubles to 70.5 billion rubles and will be comprised of 22.5 million ordinary shares and 50 million privileged shares. Providing a discount of n10 percent, however, reduces the sum the bank may receive from $12 billion to $9 billion.
Igor Moiseev, Anna Inozemtsova, Yuklia Chaikina
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 30, 2007
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