Page 6 - bneMag April 2022 Russia living with sanctions

6 I Companies & Markets bne April 2022
Sberbank Europe AG had total assets of €13.64bn at the end of last year. It is present in Austria, Czechia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and Hungary. Sber also has two separate Croatian and Slovenian units.
The ECB placed a moratorium on the bank’s operations in the Eurozone, namely Austria, Croatia and Slovenia. The Single Resolution Board, which handles European lenders that run into trouble, said it has decided to transfer all shares in the bank’s Croatian and Slovenian subsidiaries to other firms in those countries.
The bank’s Austrian unit is now being liquidated. The ECB move does not cover Sberbank’s operations in Switzerland.
Sberbank's operations in Hungary, which is not under the ECB, have also been placed under a moratorium by the Hungarian central bank and will wind it down. The Czech National Bank has launched steps to revoke the banking licence of Sberbank CZ and will wind it down.
Sber had already been in the middle of trying to sell its operations in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia.
Czech billionaire Karel Komarek considering cutting links with Russia's Gazprom
bne IntelliNews
Czech billionaire Karel Komarek, owner of the investment company KKCG group, said he is seeking to cut his links with Russian energy giant Gazprom due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to Bloomberg.
Komarek said he has been in discussions with the Czech government about how to remove Gazprom from the longstanding gas storage joint venture between his oil and gas production company MND (Moravske Naftove Doly) and Gazprom Germania.
According to one bne IntelliNews source, the government is examining whether it can somehow seize or at least freeze Gazprom's shareholding. Gas storage has become an even more strategic business since the EU agreed this month that member states should bring gas storage levels up to 90% capacity by the start of this October to prepare for the coming winter, so that the bloc is not so dependent on flows of Russian gas.
www.bne.eu
Sberbank Europe said in November it had reached a deal to sell its subsidiaries in Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia and Bosnia to a group including Serbia's AIK Banka and Slovenia's Gorenjska bank.
AIK Banka has finalised the acquisition of Sberbank Serbia, the two banks said on Monday. But Slovenian Gorenjska Banka had announced on February 28 that it is not possible to proceed with the acquisition of the Slovenian subsidiary, given the bank’s crisis.
The Slovenian central bank said on March 1 that Nova Ljubljanska banka (NLB) has decided to buy the Slovenian unit of Russian Sberbank to enable the bank to continue serving its customers. State-owned Hrvatska Postanska Banka in Croatia will acquire Sberbank’s business in that country.
ASA Bank Sarajevo bought Sberbank BH Sarajevo on March 1, after the Banking Agency of the Bosnian Federation took control of the bank two days earlier. Meanwhile, in Bosnia & Hezegovina’s other entity Republika Srpska, the government has taken over the ownership and management of Sberbank Banja Luka.
The joint venture was created in 2013, to build an underground gas storage facility in Damborice, South Moravia for CZK2.5bn (€100mn).
"Gazprom is a strategic partner for us. We highly appreciate creating a joint venture with one of the largest companies in the world. In the future, we are planning further joint projects not only in the Czech Republic, but also in Europe and the Russian Federation," said Komarek back in 2013.
Now after the Russian attack on Ukraine he is considering
his position: “There are very few options to fully divest from Russian gas in Eastern Europe ... What we want to do is free ourselves from Russian involvement without putting ordinary Czech citizens at risk, in the middle of winter,” said Komarek, according to Bloomberg.
In an open letter, Komarek has also condemned Russia’s actions in Ukraine and listed his support for Ukrainian refugees.