Page 67 - RusRPTMay19

Russia's largest bank state controlled Sberbank acquired 39.2% in Croatia's largest retailer Agrokor through restructuring of debts and assets of Fortenova, Vedomosti daily reported on April 2 citing corporate information disclosure portals. As reported by bne IntelliNews, Croatia’s Fortenova Group, the successor to Agrokor, started its business operations on April 1, marking a debt-to-equity settlement with Agrokor creditors. The company owed €1.1bn to Sberbank, and another €300mn to Russia's second-largest bank VTB. Sberbank previously said it intends to re-sell the stake in Agrokor in the first half of 2019, with no additional details yet provided on this. Agrokor, which was Croatia's top employer, almost collapsed in 2017 due to a debt crisis. Croatian law enforcers continue to investigate the crisis at Agrokor, targeting former owner Ivica Todoric, former executive VP for business and development, Piruska Canjuga, and the former director for facility investments, Ante Huljev. According to the prosecutors, they defrauded Agrokor and illegally gained €1.2mn. The offences were allegedly committed in Zagreb and in Cham, Switzerland, in November and December 2013.
Russian bank Sberbank is considering acquisition of the largest trading mall in St Petersburg, according to press speculations. This is the “Galery” shopping mall in the center of the city with 192th sqm of total area, belonging to Morgan Stanley investment fund. A potential price of the acquisition is Rb70- 80bn, the price paid by Morgan Stanley in 2012. Morgan Stanley is exiting the Russian market, so the sale of the commercial real estate is a logical step.
Russia's largest bank state-controlled Sberbank will complete the sale of 99.85% in Turkish Denizbank by the end of the second quarter of 2019, the bank said on April 3, finalising a deal anticipated by the investors. Since 2018 the bank's senior management promised to close the sale, but the economic turmoil in Turkey has raised concerns over the sale of Denizbank to Emirates NBD. Most recently analysts said that the next bottom-up catalysts for Sberbank allowing for a potential dividend payout increase is finalising the Denizbank sale.
Russia's largest bank state-controlled Sberbank gained control over the Centre of Speech Technologies (CRT) speech and face recognition developer, buying 51% from Gazprombank-affiliated companies, Vedomosti daily reported citing the sources close to the deal. Reportedly Digital Horizon venture fund will also get 10% share in the company. The amount of the deal is undisclosed, but previous reports suggested that Sberbank is to pay about RUB5bn ($75mn). Russian banking system is on the forefront of developing systems based on recognition of biometric and other data.
8.1.6 Bank news
A registry of tens of 120,000 of clients blacklisted by Russian banks and compiled by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) was leaked online, Kommersant daily said on April 12 citing specialised internet forums. Reportedly the database was compiled in June-December 2017 and has ID information of private individuals and official information of corporate clients. This makes the first known leak of classified data linked to the central bank that enjoys solid reputation, although the central bank denied it was the source. The list was reportedly drawn by the CBR after double-checking the information RosFinMonitoring watchdog, however, none of the officials agencies admit the leak and blame banks that could have possibly received
67 RUSSIA Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com